Blogs

By Dean Norman

Bernie and Silvia Stoll were a happily married couple. She worked as a nurse while Bernie studied speech pathology at the University of Iowa — and they both liked to enjoy a cup of coffee after dinner.

Bernie said it really made him feel good to finish dinner, and then stroll into the living room and sip a cup of coffee. Silvia, who was a good cook, enjoyed an after-dinner cup of coffee as much as Bernie did. But first she wanted to wash the dishes. And she wanted Bernie to help her.

“Honey,” said Bernie, “I really want to have my coffee as soon as we finish eating. Come sit beside me and enjoy your coffee. Then I will help you wash the dishes.”

“I can’t enjoy coffee when I know those dirty dishes are in the kitchen waiting to be washed,” said Silvia. “I have to wash them before I have my coffee.”        

“Please, darling,” said Bernie. “Come here and enjoy your coffee, and I will wash the dishes later. You won’t have to wash any dishes.”

“I can’t enjoy my coffee until those dishes are washed,” said Silvia. She would stay in the kitchen washing the dishes while Bernie sipped his after-dinner coffee.

“I am afraid our marriage might break up over this,” Bernie told me. I hope it didn’t. They were such good people. Bernie said it was the only serious disagreement between them. Funny how the little things can seem so important. Maybe that is why young people today live together for a long time before committing to marriage — to see if they are compatible about the little things as well as the big things.

— Dean Norman

Dean Norman is a cartoonist and humor writer, whose work has appeared in greeting cards,The New Yorker, MAD Magazine, The Cleveland Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine and The Kansas City Star. He's also written comedy for cartoon shows and written and illustrated children's books. He illustrated a cartoon book for Cleveland Metroparks, Cleveland Metroparks Adventures.