The Daily Gripe #15 - Red Heads

It's time for The Daily Gripe, from Average Joe American.

I married a red head. If you've ever known a red head, you know the kinds of things we lovers of red heads endure.

My wife, sometimes, seems to get upset and stressed out over the smallest little things. I mean, major league stress over tee ball things. And, being a red head, she can have a pretty fiery temper.

As a child I once was listening to an old time radio show on a cassette tape. It was a murder mystery, and the narrator quoted what he described as an old adage: Beware the girl with the fiery red hair. A man is safer in the electric chair. I now know how right he was.

My mom was a red head -- and her mom, and her's as well. You'd think I was well trained for life with a red head. I used to think so. But I'm not so sure anymore.

My wife sometimes gets so angry - frustrated - upset - stressed - whatever that she acts out I think before she realizes what she's doing.

Earlier this week she broke a bowl and a glass on the floor and sent sour cream flying across the kitchen. It's a long story I won't go into, and it doesn't get that extreme very often (I can think of one other time in eight years), but when she gets upset enough it's like being in a battle zone with no armor.

My mother was once given very poor service at a dry cleaner. She tried to explain to them how they had messed something up, but they were not prepared to take responsibility for their actions. My mom stormed out of that establishment, the last words from her mouth being, "I hope this place burns to the ground!" It did, that very night, and my mom had nothing to do with the cause. True story.

I guess my gripe today is that my wife allows so many small, inconsequential things to cause her so much stress and frustration that it can sometimes turn an otherwise perfectly good day into a nightmare. That really gripes me! There's nothing I can really do about it, either, but jump for cover and not come out until the smoke clears.

I love her, and I'd never let anything come between us. Not even her red head temper.

And if you've never actually met a red head, yes, everything they say about their temper is true.

Joe