Genetic Malfunction

I have a problem...a genetic malfunction, if you will, that may or may not have caused my husband to consider divorce on a number of occasions. What is this defect, you ask, that could be a catalyst for such a drastic idea?  I giggle when getting reprimanded... directly in the face of he who is most serious about the transgression.  This is not a newly acquired trait. It landed me in the principal’s office and forced my mother into many a parent-teacher conference throughout my childhood and adolescence.

While this sounds like a disturbingly evil habit, it really is merely my own sensitivity to those that are upset, that triggers this bizarre and unsettling behavior. I am so completely uncomfortable with disappointment from those whom I care about the most, that laughter seems to spill out of me involuntarily.

Now, as far as my husband goes, in our 10 years together, I have yet to hear him raise his voice, and it takes a catastrophic event to raise his blood pressure even a couple of digits.   But, throughout our marriage, there have been a handful of "discussions" during which he has been more than just a little bit frustrated with my viewpoint on certain subjects.  Because, simply put, I can be a lot.  His steadfast calm and groundedness is most often unwavering, and is by far one of the top 10 reasons I married him in the first place. He is, without a doubt, the perfect Yin to my boomeranging Yang.  So, during the extremely seldom instance that his feathers do get ruffled, he certainly deserves to have his spouse patiently listen and allow him to express his frustration without her giggling like a pre-pubescent girl.

I bring all of this up, to announce that my son seems to have inherited this more than slightly obnoxious gene. Some may call this Karma, but I would disagree, as why should I have to pay for something I simply cannot control?  But, now I understand that simply knowing that your subject is only laughing in your face because he or she cares, really doesn't cut it in the heat of the moment, be he 2 or be she 34. It is infuriating.  I learned this today while trying to very sternly explain that throwing a wooden puzzle piece at our sister's head is unacceptable.  Evidently, hysterical news. 

So, while I apologize deeply for bringing this flaw into our marriage, and for now, having the unfortunate happenstance of passing it to our offspring, there is simply nothing I can do but offer empathy for what my precious husband has had to endure.  We can only wait with bated breath and hope that this mutation skips siblings, leaving Isabelle unaffected. But, I have noticed the devilish glimmer in her eye at my brewing tension, as avocado or broccoli purees fly across the kitchen floor, and I fear that we have lost another.