Mr. Beagle/Clean is pretty obsessive about the cleaning in our home. I'm a fairly tidy person too so this arrangement works out pretty well that we are both "clean" people. (I have a theory that it might have something to do with the fact that we're first born, anyone else notice this?) Anyways, the good part about this is that I usually end up having to do very little cleaning. :) So, I usually end up pulling my weight by taking care of other chores around the house like laundry and dinner. At this point, we've settled into a nice routine of splitting up household duties. However, this wasn't always so.
Before I moved in with Mr. Beagle almost a year ago (I can't believe it's actually been a year!), I briefly roomed with my younger sister and lived alone before that. In both living situations, I took care of all/ a majority of the chores by myself. I noticed that I fell into my own little cycle of getting things done. I'll admit I was a little anal about how to wash the dishes, vacuum, dust, launder, etc., etc. There was a process I liked to follow, and no other method really sufficed. Okay, maybe I was/am a little OCD about cleaning too.
So, while living with another tidy person was nice, it took an adjustment on my part to not take over every job Mr. Beagle started because I didn't like the way he was doing it. I struggled a lot with this when we moved in together. I know I should be grateful that my mister was willing to divide up household duties (and I am), but in the beginning I wanted to fight about every little nit-picking thing. It caused tension, fighting, and overall unhappiness. I began to wonder why I had moved in with someone else when I loved living alone.
I think part of it was the adjustment to sharing aspects of my living space and life that I had not experienced before. I can be stubborn and I had to learn when to let that go. I've learned to walk away from a fight that's just not worth it. I love Mr. Beagle for putting up with my shenanigans in the beginning, especially when it was his space I was taking over. I probably drove him nuts, but not once did he suggest the move was a mistake or that I should pack my bags and leave. :) I am horrible at dealing with change, and he tried so hard to make my adjustment as painless as possible. He even let me turn the spare bedroom into my own craft room. How sweet is that?!?!
Now, a year later, I love our living situation... even more than I loved living alone. I'm happy that we've been able to smooth all our rough patches out and that we've jumped over yet another relationship hurdle.
How has your relationship changed or how do you expect it will change from living together?
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