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“Pan, this weekend when we meet Wendi, make sure you compliment her. You know her little surgery on the lips, eye corners, and upper arms cost a pretty penny. I think she’s a little hurt you didn’t say anything last time. We are old friends and we want to be supportive.” Pammy says to her husband Pan.
“She looks the same to me.” Pan says.
“I think so too. Not much difference. But we can’t say that to her. Can you tell her she looks better? Just to make her feel good? You hardly looked at her last time as if you didn’t care one way or the other.” Pammy says.
“I really don’t understand you. Whenever I look at other women, you protest; now when I don’t look at other women, you complain too. I really don’t understand you or women in general.” Pan says, getting ready to go back to watch his soccer game.
“When you give Wendi a supportive look and a polite compliment, I can’t help but praise you. It’s the other kind of look that I complained about.” Pammy says.
“Now you start to sanction how I look at people. You sanction my food, sanction my TV program. You sanction everything–you are such a dictator.” Pan says.
“I am certainly not. You agreed that we are going to eat healthier food from now on and you are not going to get ESPN plus–ESPN is enough. I thought we’ve already talked about and agreed on those things.” Pammy says.
“That’s exactly what I am talking about. We both agreed to your ideas. You had your success on food and TV, and now you move on to control how I look at people. So how should I look at Wendi–at her face, her lips, the corner of her eyes, or at her arms–and how long should I look at her? You dictate the terms.” Pan raises his arm to reveal his wristwatch as if to practice counting the seconds.
“You deliberately try to misunderstand me, don’t you? I only want you to be polite to Wendi and say something appropriate, but you drag out all the food, TV, and your watch…”
“Oh, Pammy, come here. Don’t worry. I will go to Wendi when we meet this weekend and say the most appropriate things.”
“That’s my Pan. You are the nicest and cleverest…”
They embrace and calm down. A minute later, Pammy perks up again.
“I am not trying to sanction you, Pan, but sometimes you do look at girls with a flash of interest in your eyes…” Pammy says.
“Pammy, I’ve never said anything about you but you always pick on me.”
“What? What do you want to say about me? Tell me.”
“Pammy, whenever you go out, you dress in your newest outfit with designer bag and that expensive jade necklace. Whenever you come home, you dress in the ugliest waist-less cotton… I don’t want to call it a dress since it is just a bed-sheet with a hole in it. You have that for ten years and it’s from Walmart.” Pan says.
“I have to dress formally as a real estate agent…” Pammy says.
Haoyan Do 
Is it bad that I always enjoy their arguments lol.
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Thank you for saying that. You made my day. I was thinking that it is too realistic to be interesting to read, but you give me a little bit of confidence. This happen to so many couples that I really want to explore a couple’s argument more.
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I’m glad my comment motivated you. I really do enjoy the posts about their arguments because like you said they are very realistic and I have seen many couples have similar arguments/issues in their relationships. I think this is especially so for couples who have been together for quite a few years.
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That’s so true. Marriage is very much like beauty. The fresh, young, or vibrancy is only for a very short period of time. The rest is just maintenance, repetition, getting over boredom, and how to keep going despite everything. Hope I don’t sound too gloomy for you. I seriously don’t want to be negative.
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That’s okay I already feel like that about romance/love. To be very honest I’m not a big believer in either.
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I am sure you will be happy. Now when I look back at those days when I was young, I feel that I lost at least two opportunities, just because I wasn’t paying enough attention. The fact is that they were quite shy and didn’t express themselves in an explicit way and I missed all the signals. Yes, be more observant. You are such a beautiful vibrant intelligent girl. People love you.
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Thank you very much. I think we often miss opportunities especially when they aren’t very obvious. I guess that’s why we need to always be aware of ourselves and what’s happening around us.
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The thing is men need women to “draw them out”–this is a quote from Nora Ephron’s “Heartburn”. I bet even in the most orthodoxy countries or areas, this is true. Women have to be creative, have to be interested in men, have to be pro-active, have to be more willing in order to ace a point in the “meet market”. I have often thought about this–how can an intelligent and shy girl function in such an environment. And my conclusion is that this intelligent girl has to find something entertaining and enjoyable in this game first. She has to entertain herself first. Actually other people often give wrong advice, like “hide your intelligence”, “smile more and talk less”. Those are very bad advice since a smart girl will be totally bored if she follows such advice. She has to do the opposite. She needs to find the point in these games that are worth her effort, that is entertaining to her mind, that will allow her to express and exercise her mind.
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I was laughing the whole time 😹😂🤣 Remarkable story! Bed sheet with a hole in it LOL. What a roast! Like a typical household argument. I’m rooting for Pan. 😜
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Thank you, SamSahana. You made my day. I am glad that you like it. At first I thought the story might be too plain and too realistic to be interesting, but your affirmation really gives me confidence. A lot of hugs and thanks for you.
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I think there are times Pan should smile, apologize, and verbally agree with Pammy.
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Hahaha. That’s right. Pan should just let it go and agree with Pammy to avoid the conflict. However I am actually pushing Pan forward deliberately to assert his opinion …
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It makes for good comedy.
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These two just don’t quit, do they?
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Yes, they are going to argue all the way until the end. LOL. What an entanglement.
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This makes me smile 😃
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Thank you for visiting and it is a typical day for Pammy and Pan.
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This is very funny, and all too realistic.
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Thank you. It is a realistic middle-aged incident…
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That was an interesting argument Pan is never going to win.
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Hahaha. Pan always feels that he is losing argument to Pammy.
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