For the vast majority of our marriage my wife hasn’t been an impulsive person. It’s a ruling trait of her personality. Don’t even get me talking about how long it takes to pick out meat at the grocery store.
Still, there have been times in our marriage where her impulsiveness has recharged, revitalized and resparked our relationship. The best example of this occurred just last year.
I came home from work one day to an excited wife. She had that look of joy, tentativeness and happiness all rolled into one. I could tell some news was coming.
She told me to come to her office because she had something to show me. We went downstairs, we sat down and she pulled up an eBay listing. At first, I didn’t think it was the right page, but my wife assured me it was. Popping on the screen was a brand new scooter from China. A scooter.
My wife hadn’t ridden a bike in probably 8 years, never taking a motorcycle for a spin and once in her life road a unicycle. Four wheel were her mode of transportation, so it was very odd to see her wanting to buy a scooter.
“Oh, you already bought it?”
Make that bought a scooter.
My brother in law was recently engaged and that night was his bachelor’s party. It was in a rural area, and as I drove down the single lane dirt road I was surprised to see six or seven emergency vehicles. I couldn’t pass them to get to the house, so I pulled over and waited. I watched the ambulance load the injured person and it didn’t look good. Neck brace, back board, the whole deal. After 10 minutes the emergency vehicles left and I entered the house.
The guys at the party had a front row seat for the carnage. It turns out someone was riding a motorbike without a helmet, went speeding down a hill, hit something, flipped over and cracked his skull open. You can imagine how my news of my wife buying a new scooter went over.
Undaunted by this story, my wife continued her transaction and a couple of weeks later we were renting a truck. The truck was needed to transport the scooter from the truck depot home. It was heavy. The kind of heavy that seems an impossible task to move.
We got the scooter home, don’t even ask how we got it off the truck, and unpacked it. The bluish hue was a perfect color for my wife and she worked hard to finish assembly. It took a few days of emails with the seller to figure everything out, but that weekend was the time to try it out.
We had a blast. Zooming through the local high school parking lot, the freedom, the exhilaration was contagious. My wife, daughter and I took turns racing the scooter. Our family came together.
As the day wore on my wife decided to drive the scooter to my brother in law’s house. The daughter and I went home, but it wasn’t long before the wife was home. It turns out that while my brother in law was taking the new scooter for a spin a fuel line broke. The scooter ran for a day and it hasn’t run since.
My wife’s impulsive purchase demonstrated her ability to surprise, bring joy and share all in one act. This is the value her occasional impulsiveness brings to our marriage.
Today’s Gift: My daughter recently took an auto repair class in school. She’s convinced me that she can fix the scooter, but I’ve talked her into taking it to a professional. When she gets back from her spring break she’s going to call around and find someone to fix the scooter for my wife. My gift is paying for the work.