I work with smart people-people with PhD’s, MBA’s, Masters in psychology or counseling, and licensed therapists. I often go to them to gain knowledge about clinical interventions and business strategies. But I’m married to a genius. He may not have the degrees, but he has high emotional intelligence and has that elusive competency that often evades me-common sense.

So my husband and I were experiencing some marital discord last night that almost dissolved into a full blown argument. While it didn’t reach that heightened level where we attacked or retreated, there was some heavy duty pouting on my end. And it’s all Hugh Grant’s fault. Yes, you read that correctly.

I am not prone to watch much television, but sometimes, I enter a phase where I become interested, or downright obsessed, with watching certain movies. For the last week, I have been in a Hugh Grant phase. I have a serious crush on Hugh Grant. No, not the real life Hugh Grant, but the characters he embodies in all of his movies. Then there’s the whole British accent thrown in, and I could go on for days. I wanted-desperately needed- to watch Love Actually last night. It was a stronger craving than anything I craved during pregnancy. That says a lot, right? So I sweetly asked my dear husband to go buy it for me. His immediate response was, “not gonna happen.” Excuse me? “Honey, I have to watch it tonight. I don’t want to watch any other romantic comedy. It needs to be that one, and it’s not available at any Redbox.” To which, my husband calmly stated that he had no intention of venturing out the week of Christmas to Best Buy or Target to get me this movie. Excuse me?

Yes, I pouted. To those who work with me and have never seen that side of me- well, now you know that I am very capable of pouting when I don’t get my way. Even as I gave my daughter a bath and read her stories, I was convinced that he would surprise me by heading out and buying it for me. It didn’t happen, and I was slightly crushed, but more perturbed that I would not get to watch my movie. (Insert your image of a four-year-old throwing a massive tantrum, and you’ll understand how I felt.) Because my husband is very win-win minded, he had taken the time to pull out every romantic comedy we own, including the ones with Hugh Grant and some of my other favorites. AND, he let me know that I’d get to watch Love Actually on Friday.

Was I pacified? Only slightly. But today I was able to reflect on this conversation and understand that perhaps I was a tad unreasonable in my request. It probably was a little crazy to ask him to run out the week of Christmas for one movie. Persistence and perseverance have always been very strong qualities of mine, but this situation made me realize that persistence and perseverance without common sense is really just stubbornness…and annoying at that.
I love that my husband has common sense and that he is patient with me. I also love that I’m going to watch another Hugh Grant movie tonight. I told you…I’m in a phase!

So when was yourlast act of mule-headed stubbornness?