More about the marriage than the wedding...

So, in getting ready for the family to come for the holidays, there were a lot of things that needed to be done - as usual. One big thing - we needed a new futon frame. For as long as I can remember, we've had to prop the weight bench under the futon to keep it from flipping over when anyone sleeps on it because the little bar thingy was missing. A few weeks ago the frames were on sale at Big Lots so I went and bought one because it's near my office. Of course then realize there was no way this thing was going to fit in my car. The following weekend, while I was working at Bath & Body, Gary took his much, much bigger vehicle and picked it up and brought it home. We had to get that thing up before anyone got here. On Sunday afternoon, we grabbed the tool box and headed up to the Barbie Room (that's the guest room to those of you who've not yet been here). It only took about 10 seconds to realize we didn't have the right allen wrench. Thinking perhaps the new frame came with an allen wrench, I opened up the enormous box and inside I found two. Armed with those and a set of needle-nosed pliers, Gary took the old futon apart. With just a box cutter and some really bad instructions, I got all the pieces and parts of the new one out. I spread them all over the floor and tried my best to follow the directions. A football game was on the TV, and the dog wedged his fat butt between us on the futon mattress. We had exactly zero space in which to work. Had to squat down and lean because there was no room even to sit on the floor. Gary loosened and wiggled screws and bolts. Having no clear path to the door, he handed sections of the old futon frame to me and I stacked them in the hallway. I took screws and nuts and bolts and washers and springs and lined up what went with what and where. I assembled what could be done ahead of time. When he was done, we moved the new pieces in. We put things together and then he tightened and tightened. Then I realized I had put a big piece on backwards, and we loosened and wiggled and flipped, and screwed (lol - I had to say that) and bolted and tightened again. Piece by piece, part by part, we took the old one apart and put the new one together for close to 2 hours. We dragged the old parts and boxes and plastic protector thingies out to the garbage. We got Bartlet's big doggie butt off of the mattress and put it back on the futon (the mattress, not the butt). And then we moved on to something else.
So, what, you're asking yourself, was the point of that? We do really, really well with DIY projects together. We always have. The first was an enormous glass entertainment center thing - and when we got through that with ease, I knew we'd be good together - and I was right. With the futon frame, even not having the right tools and having no room to work, and a big butted beagle hogging up what little space we had, there were no problems. No griping and whining and cussing at each other. No muttering or bickering or bitching. He did what he was good at, I did what I am good at - without even needing to discuss it. We both jumped in - full speed ahead - with a clear vision of where we needed to be, and what we needed to do to get there. We know ourselves well enough to tackle the task, and know - and trust - each other well enough to not hover or question what the other was doing. We help each other. We complement one another. We work well together. Actually, we always have. And I think that's a wonderful thing to bring into our marriage...