Mars and Venus

A little moment of just life.

Bruno and I both keep REI water bottles by our bedsides. These bottles were originally the responsibility of whomever got into bed last. In NYC, the unlucky slowpoke who was late brushing teeth could count on hearing the rumble of water bottles being bowled down the hall in their direction, along with a tacit demand for cleaning and filling.

In the move to CA, lots of things have shifted and found new places, and the responsibility for the water bottles seems to have shifted firmly onto Bruno's shoulders. My guess is that this is some combination of Bruno's approval of my new "100 situps before bed" habit, paired with his disapproval of my bottle cleaning technique, which basically consisted of dumping out the previous night's water before refilling the bottle.

Bruno takes bottle cleaning very seriously. He even has tools specially purchased for this purpose. Yesterday, he bought a new, even better bottle cleaning brush, and last night brought his new tool into the master bathroom. As I brushed my teeth, I watched him look intently around the room. His eyes settled on the rather elaborate and scrolly light sconces the previous tenant had installed on either side of the mirror. He reached out, discovered that the hole at the end of his new bottle brush fit perfectly onto the edge of one of the sconce scrolls, hung the brush from the light fixture and then stood back looking immensely pleased with himself.

I spat out my toothpaste, looked at him looking at his new discovery and said simply, "You do realize that can't stay there?"

The spell of his efficiency broken, he looked at me, utterly bewildered. "Why not? It fits perfectly"

I started to laugh, and laughed so hard I wound up in a puddle of convulsions on the bathmats (which need to be washed again; maybe that too should be Bruno's job). I haven't laughed like that in a long time. Bruno joined in the laughter, although I'm guessing we were laughing about different things. I was laughing at his sweet innocent satisfaction in finding a completely accessible perfect fit for his new toy and his complete oblivion to the idea that some people might feel that under no circumstances is it OK to hang a bottle cleaning brush off a lighting sconce.

He, I think, was laughing at seeing me so positively hysterical.

The bottle brush still hangs from the light fixture, a reminder to take our laughs where we find them, and to embrace the little moments of gentle absurdity in our world.