Differences

Day #27

Monte and I come from very different environments.

He grew up in south Florida.

He went to the beach on Christmas Day 

and Santa wore JAMS 

(remember those shorts from the 80s?) 

in their Christmas Parade.

I grew up in the Midwest.

I had mostly white Christmases

and Santa wore the weather-appropriate 

red suit with white fur trim.

As in most marriages, 

we bump into our differences

from time to time.

Like when we went furniture shopping when we were first married.

I went right to the 

dark greens,

brown leather

and dark wood.

Monte went to the 

light-colored, 

loud patterns

and blond woods.

I joked that he liked The Golden Girls furniture line.

But that is what he grew up with

that is what he knew.

We compromised and got a 

dark green couch with leather piping, 

a large patterned chair in dark colors 

and a light pickled wood coffee table.

Monte has trouble with the change of seasons every year.

Not so much spring to summer 

(he loves that change!)

but the changing of summer to fall 

fills him with dread 

and the change from fall to winter 

flat out makes him sad.

He is getting better but still hasn't fully grasped the fine art of layering

and dressing appropriately for the weather.

I once saw him shovelling our driveway in pajama pants and a thin leather coat.

On the flip side, the humidity almost killed me in body and spirit when we lived in Atlanta.

Monte LOVES humidity. 

It reminds him of home.

A few nights ago, we found ourselves without kids for a few hours and we decided to go to Whole Foods for dessert and coffee.

Look what we picked out to eat:

Monte picked out a Key Lime bar and I picked out a pumpkin roll.

Could that be more different?

Could that be more summer vs. fall?

But the crazy thing is,

he ended up eating more of the pumpkin roll 

and I ended up eating more of the Key Lime.

Maybe we aren't as different after all.