Yeah, that's probably not going to change

Pet peeves are funny things. Grinding teeth, fingernails on a chalkboard, smacking lips can all drive people up a wall. (And by, "people," I mean members of my immediate family.) Of course, during the dating process, we all do our darndest to hide the things that could make our sweetheart cringe, and usually, during that time, you’re so in love you’re oblivious to them anyway. But then you get married and all of a sudden it’s pet peeve central.

Not staged, much to
Sean's chagrin

For instance, I had no idea what a big deal it was going to be to leave a kitchen cabinet door open. I mean, I’m working in the kitchen and sometimes I leave a door (or two) open. No big deal, right? Oh, so wrong. Makes Sean nuts. But he should have known this was going to happen because my mom does the same thing. When we were dating and he’d visit our house, he’d close her pantry door multiple times only to have Mom open it up again. She was working, for crying out loud! Why bother shutting it until you’re done? 

So I’ve known about the cabinet door thing since we got married (and I really do try to close them - really!), but in the last few years a new pet peeve of his has surfaced: leaving a coat on the back of a chair. This was not an issue when we lived in Atlanta.  But since moving to the great white north, this has become a major point of contention. I figure if I’m going in and out, I should just leave my coat on my kitchen chair: easy access for when I need to leave again. Why bother hanging it up in the coat closet each time? I’ll do it at the end of the day when I’m done with the coat (most nights I remember…). You can imagine how this thrills Sean, Mr. Engineer, Mr. “A place for everything and everything in its place.” Thrills him to his core.

My coat on my chair. The shirt that's hanging up needs to go upstairs - of course, it's still there, 12 hours after being ironed, but that's another story...

But this weekend, my Dad visited and he left his coat in a very familiar spot:

My dad's coat on Sean's chair.

Didn’t faze me a bit. Sean, of course, took the opportunity to say, “I see it runs in the family.”

At least he knows I come by it honestly.