Speaking in Cliffs Notes, 33 years later

Here's the deal about long-term marriages.

SoMetiMes you speak to each other in Cliffs Notes. For example! The other day when my husband and I were getting ready to take a little road trip, we had the following Cliffs Notes conversation.

Him: Did you pack soMe toothpaste?

Me: Take yours.

How does this qualify as Cliffs Notes conversation, you ask?

Compare it to the following conversation.

Him: Did you pack soMe toothpaste?

Me: Yes.

Him: What kind?

Me: Does it matter?

Him: Yes.

Me: Are you serious?

Him: I prefer Crest, just like 3 out of 4 dentists, OK? I have always preferred Crest. Ever since I was a kid. The others leave a funny aftertaste in my mouth.

Me: Well, aren't YOU just the Princess and the Pea.

Him: The who?

Me: Dude! The Princess and the Pea! Don't tell Me you never read the fairy tale about the princess with such sensitive skin that she can feel a pea beneath a thousand mattresses.

Him: What does that have to do with Crest toothpaste?

Eventually this conversation would devolve into a testy exchange about our separate families and how SOME OF US thought we had better dental hygiene than others because our mothers always bought Crest while OTHERS OF US thought we had a firmer grasp on the true nature of princesses because our mothers read us fairy tales.

And if we were REALLY in the mood, we could also wonder why SOME OF US learned how to turn the lights off and hang up the towels when we were growing up while OTHERS OF US figured out how to chill, to relax, to go with the flow and not sweat the small stuff.

Especially someone else's small stuff.

Finally, I would wrap it all up by shouting, "TAKE YOURS!" and then stomp out of the room, leaving my husband to root through the drawers, looking for a tube of Crest toothpaste.

Yeah.

These are the kinds of conversations my husband and I had when we were young and crazy.