“You’ve
got to show them who’s boss,”
Uncle
Ray once told me. What did I
know,
after all he was the experienced
one
who had been married for so many
years.
He
had five kids who minded him too.
They
all knew what was good for them:
Better
not piss off your father if you know
what’s
good for you.
Those
were the days when “real men”
ruled
the roost, and a wise wife knew
her
place. I was a fairly
young newly
wed
back then. Had
one of those, shall
we
say, determined German women I
married
while in the military overseas.
It
was about that time I had heard the
phrase,
Happy wife, happy life. So the
question
arose, do I take my seasoned
battle-hardened
uncle’s advise or
pay
heed to a widely accepted axiom
instead?
Admittedly,
I had an awful lot to
learn
about marriage, wives and
pithy
expressions as well.
Insofar
as Uncle Ray and his
marriage
were concerned,
everyone
pretty much knew,
Aunt
Josephine for the most
part
was practiced at playing
along.
It
may have been a secret to
some,
but plain as day for
most
to see, the boss in that
family
was never really a
mystery.
Smugly,
Uncle Ray took another
sip
from his second gin martini.
-30-
Chris
Hanch 5-15-2020
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