Honey-coated sugar syrup
The feedback I have received for this site has been for the most part positive. Yesterday, however, I got a small bit of negative feedback from a member of the group I call "my geek friends." He thought yesterday's post was unrealistically sweet.
From: Rey
Sent: Sept. 30, 2003 4:46 PM
To: Curt, Nick, Jerry
Subject: I may have to kill Curt
I don't have an option. I have to do it. this is WAY too...too...I don't know...Barney Sap? It's like PURE SACHARINE!
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From: Curt
Sent: Sept. 30, 2003 4:48 PM
To: Nick, Jerry, Rey
Subject: RE: I may have to kill Curt
I would agree with you if this were a work of fiction, but it's a realistic representation of a rainy morning a couple of weeks ago. The only differences are that we were sitting in our car at the time and I didn't abridge the song lyrics. Don't kill me for trying to cheer up my wife.
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From: Rey
Sent: Sept. 30, 2003 4:51 PM
To: Nick, Curt, Jerry
Subject: RE: I may have to kill Curt
do you guys EVER fight? get nauseous? ANYTHING?!?!? I mean, you guys are like the SMURFS!!!
you can quote me on that. =)
It went on like that for a while, back and forth. My geek friends don't do much work after 4:45.
Anyway, the truth is that Mrs. Happy and I do fight. We pick playfully at each other quite a bit, and sometimes the picking goes too far. The scene I illustrated yesterday might easily have turned into strong words spoken with stern voices had Mrs. Happy been in a slightly worse mood to begin with or I in a slightly more annoying temperament.
We also have serious arguments (some might even label them "fights") that involve fundamental disagreements and deeply hurt feelings. We work through them, though. We have to. We are accustomed to enjoying each other's company, and when our moods, circumstances, and opinions put us in contention with one another, the world just doesn't seem right. So we talk things through, we look at each other's perspective, we sacrifice, we forgive, and we, uh…make up.
We don't live like the Smurfs, thank goodness (their peaceful, pastoral existence doesn't exactly stand up to much scrutiny anyway). We might more accurately be compared to Rob and Laura Petrie, or perhaps Rose is Rose with a little more conflict. The conflict always comes, but it brings growth and intimacy with it, along with a healthy dose of friskiness.
Mrs. Happy is this blog's editor. She reads everything before I post it, and by doing so has saved me from embarrassing errors several times. As she read this post, I could hear her muttering, "…that's not even how you spell saccharine…Smurfs? Shut up…" and so on. Then she pointed out that in the paper bag comic, she was in a snippy bad mood until the last three frames and I was being annoying the whole time. Nothing sappy about that.
