Behind The Curtain

One of the new TV shows that the wife and I are enjoying this year is “Better With You”.  For those of you not familiar with the show, it follows the lives of three couples.  The first couple have been together a very short time but are engaged and expecting their first child.  The second couple (which involves the sister of the woman in the first couple) have been together for many years but are not yet married.  The third couple is the parents of the women in the first two couples.

On a recent episode, the first couple are preparing to move in together and the other couples are giving them advice (the men advising the husband to be and the women the wife to be).  Since the first couple has not been together very long, the older sister warns her younger sister of looking “behind the curtain” of her fiancé's life and learning things she may not want to learn (bad habits, etc).  This is always good advice as during the honeymoon period of any relationship we are careful to guard this part of our lives and hide items “behind the curtain” (one thing the husband to be admit to is biting his toenails).

Yesterday morning I was near our bathroom sink as the wife was getting ready for the day.  She was applying deodorant to her underarms.  Now it is not that I was counting the strokes but after a period of time it seemed to me that an adequate amount was transferred however she was still applying.  I commented that, in my estimation, a sufficient coat of deodorant was delivered and an acceptable coating was achieved.  Of course this was met with “the look” but was followed with and explanation.  She said that she did not want to be the smelliest thing at work.

Now several things went through my head with (not the least interesting) one of them being that there was somehow a chart whereby the employees or perhaps the customers at her place of work actually rated things from least smelliest to most smelliest.  In the brief moment I entertained this thought I saw a sticker chart or maybe a small trophy (Least Smelliest Employee?) displayed where all could see.  After that left my mind I then began to consider the fact that my wife works at a pet store.  This means that (even if there were a contest of some sort) she would be competing with pet store smells.  Things like…

• Dogs (pets are welcome in the store)
• Dog owners (let’s face it, we live with animals, our standards are lower)
• Dog food (invariably there has to be an open bag somewhere)
• Birds and their cages
• Hamsters and their cages
• Other employees (I have met some of them, the wife could under-smell most of them on a bad [or would that be a good?] day)
• etc

I explained this concept to her and I was give another version (a little stronger this time) of “the look” and then the deodorant was placed back in the cabinet.

Anyway, one thing behind the wife’s curtain that I am just now discovering is the attention she gives to the smell factor even when the competition is low.  Of course one thing that the wife did not know was behind my curtain was my narcissistic need to tell the world about things such as these.

Jon