Let me tell you something, Toula. The man is the head, but the woman is the neck. And she can turn the head any way she wants.  — My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Next summer, Irish Woman and I are going to pack up the kids and the dogs, along with enough stuff to bury a small elephant, and wend our way to the Florida Panhandle for a week of sun, sand, and mosquitoes.  Thankfully, we are taking two vehicles so that we’re not joined at the hip for the entire week, because even though I love her with all my heart and soul, 10 days in close proximity will drive us to either divorce or criminal court.  Maybe both.

Now, a controversy has arisen over the accoutrements of the house we will be renting.  I, being a simple man, wish for nothing more than a nice house on the beach, with a veranda, a coffee maker, and a big, comfortable bed.  She, on the other hand, wants all those things, except she wants a pool to go with them.  You see, in her logic it would be nice to have a place to go swimming when it gets too hot to go to the beach and for the kids to have somewhere to hang out and have fun while the adults do something, well, adult oriented.  I’m imagining long romantic walks on the beach without a 7 year old and two teenagers, or a candlelight dinner on a dock somewhere, or whatever.  My hope is that she has the same ideas, and this doesn’t mean going to look at antiques.

Now, at first, I resisted this idea.  Driving almost two days and not being able to walk out the back door and hit sand seemed like less than what I wanted.  Why have a pool when you have the entire Gulf of Mexico to swim in.  But, through logical discussion and rational argument, we decided to compromise and get a house, just off the beach, with a pool.

The point of this story is that her happiness and desires are more important to me than my own.  She has softened the blow a bit by acquiescing to my latest ideas when it comes to hobby-related purchases, so it’s not a one way street.  It is a mighty power that I have given her, and it is one that she has never abused.

Gentlemen, the quicker you accept that the best you can do is fight them to a draw, which is a Pyrrhic victory if I ever saw one, the sooner you can find joy in married life.