Melissa's Place

Team Work
(possible alternate title: The Softer Side of Mark)

Today, Mark and I exhibited a symbiosis so beautiful, I think it warrants sharing. This is above and beyond the normal day-to-day I’ll-do-the-laundry-if-you-make-dinner cooperative interplays.

Mark is fighting a cold and I’ve just come back for a run, so we’re both pooped. He needs to make an insightful post for his on-line course but his head hurts and he can’t get his ideas out. I’m lying snuggled up in bed and don’t really feel like moving. So he comes in and gently persuades me to “scribe” for him, which means he tries to express his ideas and I type them in words I’d use, then he takes out the words like “heart-felt” and “dismay” because they sound too girly. So I settle into his desk chair with my quilt wrapped around me and he tells me the ideas he’s trying to get across. As I sit there and mull over how I will formulate them into eloquent prose, Mark carefully selects one of my favourite records, Herp Alpert and the Tijuana Brass and puts it on. (Keep in mind, this record is wedged between two very expensive records of his because he uses mine as space-keepers, so this is quite a sacrifice). So now I begin to type away to “Spanish Flea” and “The Lonely Bull” and, of course, I feel inspired, so the words just come. Then, to add to my comfort, Mark goes to the bedroom and gets a brush and combs my hair. Of all the wonderful ways to stimulate brain waves, I vote having your hair brushed to be number one!

Then, of course, he had to take out the girly words. But let me tell ya, we’re both happier now than we were a half hour ago.

:)
Melissa