Write Your Spouse a Love Haiku
Monday, May 24th, 2010
Marriage Improvement Monday
Today is Haiku day for the blogathon. It’s also Marriage Improvement Monday. And I happen to be writing this while feeling a tad guilty because I just yelled at the poor 18 year old who works in customer service for AT&T Wireless because she happened to be the person who informed me that AT&T was going to cut off my service because I was 10 days late paying a bill that was, ahem, hidden underneath a few pieces of paper. I happened to be talking to her on my cell phone, which, at that moment, was getting exceptionally poor service. Yes, AT&T’s coverage is so poor that I can’t even get service in my own house. I have to walk outside to take a cell call.
Oh, I told her all about why I was going to cancel my service as soon as Verizon carried the iPhone and about how this is why no one likes AT&T and that only an evil company would cut off service when a bill is only 10 days late, especially when the innocent customer has informed such evil company that the check is in the mail and was only late because the bill was hidden underneath a pile of other distracting things.
She couldn’t have cared less. Honestly, by the sigh I heard emanate from her, it was apparent to me that I was the 600th person who had given her the very same tirade today.
So I hung up. Then I killed a fly. I did it because it was there, and it was making this annoying buzzing sound. And in that split second as I picked up my book about white collar psychopaths and smashed it against the fly, that fly looked a lot like AT&T Wireless to me.
Once the poor fly was flattened against my window, it just looked like a poor fly that was scared out of its mind and that really wanted to get out of my house but just couldn’t find the door.
And then I felt really bad.
That was quite the digression, wasn’t it? Now you understand my guilt. Moving on.
How do I blend Haiku Day with Marriage Improvement Monday?
Well, recent research has found that showing gratitude can help couples grow closer. Gratitude comes in many forms: cooking your spouse a nice dinner to celebrate a promotion, saying “thank you,” and writing your spouse a Haiku that explains why your spouse rocks.
Haiku is a specific type of poem that contains three lines and 17 syllables. There are 5 syllables on the first line, 7 on the second, and 5 on the third. For examples, check out the Haiku Diaries.
For Marriage Improvement Monday, I’m asking you to express your gratitude for your spouse in the form of a Haiku.
For instance, my Haiku for my husband is:
She pulls your finger.
You smile; She never learns.
You keep me laughing.
It’s especially powerful to write these little poems when you are feeling somewhat angry. Haiku forces you to concentrate—using both sides of the brain at once. As you try to write a gratitude Haiku, the anger will dissipate because you can’t listen to your angry voice while writing Haiku. You just can’t. So despite yourself, you calm down. Voila. Now you can think rationally and speak your voice using a volume that does not blow out your spouse’s eardrums.
Which leads me to believe that it might be a good idea for me to write a Haiku to AT&T.
At least you did call.
You could have just cut it off.
But you warned me first.
What is your gratitude Haiku for your spouse? Leave it here in the comments.
