The Williamses' House Rules
Sometimes it's fun to reflect on the rules that we have created for ourselves over the past five years. When we got married, we essentially started with a clean slate. As we discovered things that weren't working, or that were, we would create a mutually agreed-upon rule and move forward.
Disclaimer: We're certainly not perfect, and rules are sometimes broken, so take these with a grain of salt.
1. When you drop something or make a large noise, and the other half is in another room, and you are OK, you must yell, "I'm OK!" This rule was established in January 2007. I was in the shower and Kels was still sleeping. For some reason, I got light-headed and felt like I was going to pass out. My vision went dark and I lost my hearing for a second, kind of like the moment when the doctor is putting you under. I started feeling myself fall and, out of instinct, tried grabbing on to anything I could (which is not much in a shower). Down I went, I guess. I woke up some time later in the fetal position on the shower floor. I was OK, but felt dizzy. I crawled out of the shower and yelled for Kels. She felt so bad. She had heard the loud noise, but she is such a heavy sleeper, she just went back to sleep. Now, every time one of us drops something or makes a crashing noise, we yell, "I'm OK!"
2. No crying, no whining, no grumpers. We stole this rule from the Smith clan. When M&M start to get fussy, Momma Smith will say, "No crying, no whining, no grumpers." The twins will actually say this to each other as well. One time I asked Myah what was wrong with Maysen and her response was, "I 'unno, crying grumpers." We've adopted this rule for when one of us is being a diva about something silly. Sometimes it just takes someone being honest with you (in love) to tell you that you're acting like a child.
3. No scaring Kelsey. I used to hide around the house and scare Kels. She is afraid of the dark, so it's entirely too easy. This was uber fun for me, but it led to some heated discussions afterward. Early in our marriage I had a hard time distinguishing between something that was funny to me, but not funny to Kels. When I scared her, what I was really doing was losing her trust. I was losing the trust that she had in me being able to protect her. (The kid in me has to hold back on this a lot...)
Those are some of the oddball rules that we try to follow in la Casa de Williams.
How about you, any not-so-normal rules out there?