Getting the Facts Straight

November 2010

He Said

All over the world people are concerned about conserving
energy, going green,saving the trees, conserving water,
and cutting off the lights. But not in her house. She has
lights set up in the dog's room to come on and off by a
timer whether we are there are not. She doesn't want the
pooch wandering around in the dark looking for her favorite
toy, poor thing!. There is a light in the dining room, also
on a timer, that comes on at dusk and turns off sometime in
the middle of the night. There is a light in the foyer, also
on a timer, that comes on at dark and stays on till late at
night. There is a night light in the bathroom, the spare
bathroom I might add, that stays on all night. When she
enters a room she turns on the light. When she enters another
room she turns on the light. None of these lights get turned
off until she is ready to go to bed. When I ask her about
conserving energy, her response is usually something like a
light bulb cost about fifty cents to burn all month. When I
ask her where she gets her information, she says the Internet.
As we all know the Internet is now our main source of knowledge.
We also know that the Internet information highway is strewn with
not only useless information, but also misguided information.
I am not saying that the fifty cents guideline is wrong,
but as my Mother use to say," a penny saved is a penny earned".
I have noticed that since the time we have dated,her children
have learned well from their mother. No light in the house is
ever turned off until bedtime. Her other response is she wants
to have the house look lived in. "If all the lights are out in
the house, the house looks unhealthy" , she says. I guess to me
getting a five hundred dollar light bill every month would make
me and my wallet feel unhealthy.

She Said

I love Thomas Kincaid's paintings and the closest I'm going
to get to a serene setting like that is by leaving a few lights
on here and there. Which is more inviting...a dark, gloomy
house that is an invitation to be broken into or a home glowing
with lights and warmth from a fire in the fireplace and
maybe even soft music playing. Who wants to walk around
in a house stumbling over chairs, bumping into doors, or
tripping over someone's shoes who couldn't quite find a place
for them other than in the middle of the floor? Mr. Scrooge
wants everything turned off as a person leaves the room and
turned on again when they come back. Have you seen the TV
commercial of the man who goes around the house unplugging
lights, coffee maker, toaster, radio, TV, etc., to save
electricity? You wrote that ad didn't you, Mr. Ad Man?
Who is going to crawl behind the sofa, bed, kitchen cabinet,
etc, to plug them back in when they are needed again?
I remember going to my Dad's in Virginia Beach on weekends
from college and when we drove up, all the yard lights
were on as well as the lights inside. What a welcome home!
It just wouldn't have been the same if I drove up to
a dark house. As far as my kids go, if leaving lights
on is something they learned from me then I'll take it
as a compliment that maybe some other things I taught
them are etched in their minds.

What is True Love ?

He Said


You might remember in the December issue we talked

about Christmas and what Christmas means to both of us.

My main concern was that there were not enough color

lights in my world at this time of the year. Since

she always decorates with white lights every year,

I had sort of lost touch with the excitement of

Christmas trees being decorated with color lights.

How exactly does all of this relate to true love?

Let me share a story with you and then you can

judge whether this is the definite definition of

true love. Right after we finished the column for

December I left to go to a meeting. This was at night.

Now I had complained fairly strongly, as I am apt

to do sometimes, about the white lights vs colored

lights problem. When I arrived back at her house

later that night, she had put up another Christmas

tree and decorated it with colored lights and all

of the trimmings just for me. (She already had a

7 foot tree decorated with white lights in the living room).

This is what I call going the extra mile, without a

hint to me, without me asking or badgering her into

doing it. She did this to please me. She did this

because she loves me and wanted to make me happy.

This is one way to prove to someone how much you

love them. To her I say, Happy Valentine's Day and I love you.


She Said


Now you know why I put up with him. Wasn't that just

the sweetest thing for him to do?

( Expressing his love to me publicly in our column).

He could have just as easily complained about the

gifts that I gave him for Christmas. (One of which

was a GPS with a female voice for those who are keeping score).

I wanted to see if there was another female voice

he would listen to besides his mothers') I laughed

all the way to the cashier just thinking about the

double entendre: Larry following driving directions

while listening to a female voice! As far as the

extra tree goes, I had an extra one with plenty of

decorations so why not use it instead of letting it

collect dust in the basement. It sure beat listening

to him whine about not having colored lights.

Seriously, I did want to please him. I wanted to

surprise him. It certainly did those things

and he was exceedingly glad. It was a nice touch

to the house and made me realize that he needs

or wants certain things in his life, that maybe

I would not choose, but makes him happy. As all

couples know when both of you are happy life is

so much easier. Of course this doesn't mean he

will help more around the house, that he will

help take down the tree, wash more dishes, or

even cut the yard this spring. However, for the

month of December all was bliss, we got to see

all our children, we ate more than we ever needed,

we saw both of our parents, went to Virginia Beach

and Myrtle Beach,and had two trees that we both

enjoyed. To us, that's what relationships and

holidays are all about. I still need a dryer,

but he is not pushing the pre-nup as much;

and he got color lights on a Christmas

tree this year. Life is good.