You Say Tomato....I Say Tomahto!

    (Triangle Talk by heatherfuture)

     Mr. Wug and I have been married for more than 29 years now, and we were together 4 years before we were married. So, let's just say we've got a lot of years of communicating under our belts! But.......and it's a big BUT!...we have never communicated in the same way!
     Just as a little background, I grew up with tons of siblings,  and we communicated all the time!!!...

        (Cat's Pillow Fight Postcard by VintageVendor)

     Okay....so it wasn't always productive communication! LOL But hubby's growing up household was COMPLETELY different!

     Mrs Wug: "How would you describe your household growing up, Bae?"

Mr. Wug: "It was sorta like living in a house full of acquaintances, nobody saying too much, and every once in a while...when the moon was full...there would be some sort of conjunction with the planets and everybody would be talking and playing games!...But that would last a 'hot second', until someone got either angry or bored!"

     So, needless to say, this contributed to both of us learning different communication skills. And those skills have progressed and changed over the years...When I (Mrs. Wug)  was young I wanted to keep the communication to a minimum. That way there was no chance for me to get in trouble!! So I was sorta like a timid squirrel...

      (Squirrel Watercolor print by Splodgepodge)

      "Ooooo! I didn't do it! I'm gonna be over here, under the bed. See you later!" :-)) And then later on I became a 'fraidy cat'!...

        (Fraidy Cat Cotton Kitty by SaffronCrow)

     I barely wanted to talk at all!!....I know! Hard to believe, isn't it! LOL
       But hubby...was a Mama's boy...

      (Eddie and Mama Elephant print from PorkyPieDesigns)

     He was the oldest child in his house, and he didn't need much communication...by way of words I mean. All he had to do was 'hint around'...by dropping his clothes on the floor and walking away (his mom figured out that they needed washing, and she did), or standing in the middle of the kitchen floor when he was hungry (and his mom figured out that he was hungry...so she would fix him something!).
      Mostly this was because he had asthma and was sick a lot of the time. His mom gave him a lot of special treatment because of it...And he says he thinks his brothers were jealous. Can you hear the crickets?!....There was a lot of quiet in his house! ^_^
      So, you get Mrs. Wug, from a loud 'chattery chattery' household, together with Mr. Wug, from 'low-key central', and what do you get?!...

      (Hugging Polymer Clay Turtles Cake Topper by Buttonwilloe)

     You get two little communication turtles, with hard shells, and carrying a lot of baggage...who love each other, but have a little issue with learning how to communicate!
      If the subject matter is sports we are simpatico!... :-)

      (Amigurumi pattern from pepika)

     Mrs. Wug: "Do the Denver Broncos have new uniforms again?!!"


Mr. Wug: "Yeah. They had 'em for a couple of years now!"


     Mrs. Wug: "Are all the teams changing uniforms, because I saw the Green Bay uniforms the other day and they looked like we were back in the 1930s!"


Mr. Wug: "Ha! Ha! Well, I think the leagues are doing throw-back uniforms for special games."


        When it comes to food?...

    (Genuine Vintage Steiff Squirrel from HamiltonBay)

Yikes...the issues!! Because of my health conditions the last few years, hubby has been the one that does most of the cooking and shopping. Because of his being a pastry-loving, junk and processed food eating nut!, we have had no end of 'conversations'...well, let's call it what it is...fights!...about his eating habits and his lack of wanting to cook anything that might take more time than hitting a microwave button!! ^_^
    Of course he would say: 

Mr. Wug: "I have become a good cook! I learned how to know the exact buttons to push to keep things warm, and I can time it just right between two microwaves. And I know how long it takes to boil an egg...But what I can't figure out is what Mrs. Wug wants for lunch!...All I hear is 'This don't taste right!...Did you put 'so-and-so' in it?!...It don't taste like it!' LOL"


     Mrs. Wug: "WHATEVER!!!!" ^_^


     But when there are serious issues that have to be talked about, this is where the communication between us really gets tested! I (Mrs. Wug) am a 'Black Bear communicator'!

       (Black Bear by Puzzimals)

I stand my ground. I can be aggressive when I think I'm right. And I'm very, very wordy!!...Hubby is a 'turtle communicator'!...

        (Sea Turtle by HamjArt)

      When a subject is on the table he usually is in 'defensive, protect-your-outer-shell' mode! I do all of the talking....wait for the response that never comes (it's tucked in there somewhere, inside the shell! LOL)...wait some more....and then when I say just the wrong thing......'SNAPPING TURTLE' pops his head out, says a few lines, and then retreats again!.....UGH!
        You don't know how many 'conversations' we have had over the years about these very kinds of 'conversations'!!!...In fact, because my style of communication is to talk....and then to talk some more, and if that doesn't work...to talk a lot more and a lot faster...hubby's communication style has many different facets too!
       He listens for a while and then starts yawning...

     ("Fang" print by jonahgilmore)

....I think this is a learned response from his 'hinting abilities' as a child! LOL Of course he would say:


Mr. Wug: "I admit...it is a learned behavior. And with all of the wordiness I just want it to STOP!! I prefer conversation like a blitz in football...quick and fast! Say what the problem is, express your feelings, acknowledge it, say I understand or apologize, and then it's over with!"


     Mrs. Wug: "Yeah! And if any of those responses...acknowledgement, expression of feelings, or apologies...actually happened, I wouldn't be talking so much...or for so long!...with crickets in the room every time I stopped talking!! LOL"


      But if the hint of yawning doesn't work, hubby also has another tactic...

         (Bear wood by Puzzimals)

...Complete silence!! He waits until all talk stops...or he says something that totally distracts the conversation... "Look! A bird!"...Then he wanders off to another room and emerges, usually, with food! ^_^ How we even still talk to each other is a mystery!! LOL

     (Original Drawing by marina826)

      But, even saying all of this, these times of lack of, or no, communication is rare! Most of the time we're talking. And talking about everything!!

      (Vintage Postcard by VintageBarrel)

      We've done this since we were dating. :-)


     Mrs. Wug: "Do you remember when we were dating? How we used to call each other and talk for hours?! We even fell a sleep a few times, and woke up the next morning yelling into the phone to wake the other one up?! LOL"


Mr. Wug: "Yeah, we were silly back then. :-] But we really opened up to each other, didn't we?!"


     Mrs. Wug: "We sure did. :-)"


Mr. Wug: " I remember us just sitting in front of the house in the car, talking about stuff...Going for rides in the car, talking about stuff...Breaking up and then getting back together, and talking about stuff! ^_^"


     Mrs. Wug: "Yeah, I remember a certain multiple choice gift I got one year around Christmas...back when we used to celebrate Christmas! I couldn't believe that when I was thinking this was the year I would get an engagement ring, I ended up having to choose which gift I would get, and ended up with the same gift that you gave my sister!...I was so hurt!!"


Mr. Wug: "Yeah, I remember that. :-( I really didn't want to show my feelings back then because I wasn't SURE of yours."


     Mrs. Wug: "Yeah, I know...But I think you were just not a very good gift giver back then... ^_^ Oh! The things I have gotten!!! Ha! Ha!...Besides nice gifts like chocolates and a beautiful etched jewelry box I mean. I've gotten an electric fingernail dryer, a huge 4-foot blue 'Smurf', and a silk rose from '7-Eleven' for an anniversary gift!!!"


Mr. Wug: "Ummmmm...I don't wanna talk about that!" LOL

('We Need To Talk' painting by DyanneParkerArt)

  (Let's call the whole thing off...Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong)