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The man who drank from bowls makes the sort of husband many women would love to marry.
He is a steady breadwinner. His job, at the senior management level of one of the world’s biggest computer companies, pays well enough for his wife to afford the luxury of not working.
He has bought a nice house with a garden and a koi (Japanese carp) pond, and in the backyard his wife has planted a vegetable garden.
He is a faithful husband and a loving father, very much a family man. He does not spend nights out "with the boys", certainly not with other women either. Nor does he smoke, drink or gamble. A man without vices. A man who is dependable and devoted.
What more could a woman ask for?
Ah! But no man - no woman also, for that matter - is perfect, is there?
And so this man has one failing which his wife discovered on the one occasion - and so far there has been only one such occasion - when she went on a holiday without him.
She returned from holiday a week later shocked to discover that her husband cannot wash dishes. No, that is putting it too mildly. Her husband cannot even rinse a glass.
Cannot cook
Needless to say, such a man cannot cook. So he ate out throughout the week when his wife was away. He could not even make himself a cup of coffee.
But he did drink water, and his wife knows exactly how much water he drank at home during the week. Because everytime he drank, he left behind an unwashed glass.
As you can imagine, a family of four would not own that many cups and glasses. So when he ran out of them, he took out the bowls and drank from them. You cannot say this man is not creative and resourceful - two more points in his favour.
Place yourself now in his wife’s shoes.
Although refreshed from the holiday, you are feeling tired from half a day of travelling. It helped that your darling husband had picked you up from the airport, saving you the trouble of lugging your luggage and waiting for a taxi. Still, you are feeling quite pooped!
You reach home and the first sight that greets you is that of glasses, cups and bowls strewn all over the house, waiting for you to wash them. What’s the expression on your face?
Well, it could have been worse. It could have been a pile of microwaved leftovers covered with ants, cockroaches and molds.
Thankful
No. It’s only cups, glasses and bowls. Never mind. By tomorrow, after a good night’s sleep, you will have the energy to wash all 25 of them. Be thankful.
Be thankful also that your husband had just given you a wonderful story to tell at parties. Otherwise, you will not have much else to talk about besides the woes and challenges of raising children. This is at least a great story, one that you can relate with fondness and affection.
Be thankful that you gone on your holiday without him, even though it was the one and only time during your marriage.
Did you hear the story about the other housewife whose husband was not as dependable as yours, having twice lost his job?
Yet he was even more dependant. He forbade his wife to go on a 3-day getaway with girlfriends to Hong Kong because, he asked her, “What am I going to do without you?”