Bubs and I celebrated our anniversary last night over dinner at Evvia, a swanky Mediterranean restaurant in Palo Alto. We hadn’t eaten there in many years, so when he told me he reserved a spot there, it was a pleasant surprise bc I had long forgotten about that place.

We met there on the early side: he took the train down from SF.  Soon after we settled in, my blog came up… Honestly, it was a continuation from a conversation the night before, bc I had asked if he saw the pictures I posted from our Europe trip. Bubbey replied that he never sees any of my posted pictures, bc they don’t render in his reader (aggregator) app, which he uses to read my posts. I insisted that in addition to the embedded images, my post also contained a hyperlink to the album, so even if the images didn’t load in his reader, he should be clicking through the link to view the album. Back and forth. So at dinner, he said the post didn’t contain a hyperlink, and he proceeded to show me how it rendered in his phone app. See? No hyperlink. Then, he had the gall to assert that if my blog doesn’t render in the (popular) app correctly, it doesn’t meet basic industry standards. Then, I got pissed.

“If you don’t want to read my blog, then don’t read my blog!”

“I do want to read your blog. I’ve always been reading it!”

I countered, “I’m not just some random stranger whose blog you follow. I’m your wife. I don’t want you reading my blog like it’s the same as all that other bullshit and noise. The workflow is, you receive the notice in your reader that a new post went live. Then, you are supposed to click through the link within your app and read my content on its original website. Don’t do me any favors ‘reading’ my blog by just skimming it all half ass.”

I was so. fucking. livid. I’m not saying every reader should do it this way, but he absolutely should if he’s really going to follow my blog. Then, silence. Meanwhile, my brain was going ballistic. WTF!!! Thirteen years of marriage and I have to get on his case about reading my goddamn blog? Of all the compromises and shit that I do, this is a fucking no brainer. Seriously, are you kidding me? And the fact that we have discussed this before? And for the record, my blog isn’t on some Podunk blogspot platform or whatever. I use WordPress. That is industry standard, so your app is shitty and on top of that, fuck off if you can’t even be bothered.

Needless to say, our anniversary dinner was off to a great start. SMH. But in typical Bubbey fashion, he gave me a few minutes to calm down and then he changed the subject. And then we were back on track. Mostly.

That’s one of the things I learned from couples therapy years ago. I have the memory of an elephant so I remember a lot of details and my inventory goes waaaay back. My most natural tendency is to not back down and to keep asserting that I am right. If it’s any indication, Bubbey’s newest nickname for me is The Volcano. But I tried to recall all that I had learned before. I made my case; I expressed my displeasure, and that was that. Let’s still try to have a good time. And whatdya know, we did. After we got home, he gave me a card. And then, we were good again. At least we are until this same exact topic comes up again in the future… Haha. Sigh. The trials and tribulations of marriage.