The secret to a successful marriage? Spicy combo of a Chihuahua, CPR and cayenne pepper
“You take her! No you take her!”
It’s 2 a.m. and my husband and I are discussing Lola, the Chihuahua. Like a football, we pass her back and forth in bed. The loser gets the prize.
She is fat. She is graying. Her breath does not smell like roses. But Lola is part of the family. And families have to stick together.
Case in point: Mark and Michelle Schrader who will be married 30 years on Monday. When we met, I was a short-skirted feature writer and Mark was a lawyer who drove a red Porsche. Today, I wear stretch pants and Mark drives an SUV. The romance isn’t dead. It just occasionally needs resuscitating.
“I love you more now than I did the day I married you,” I told my husband over breakfast. To my surprise, he didn’t choke on his coffee. He’s used to my saying crazy things.
“What is it you love about me?” he asked, waiting for the punch line.
“Oh, lots of things,” I said. “You’re smart and you’re funny and you’re an excellent father. You’re also good in a crisis and you laugh at my jokes.”
OK, that last one was a bit of a stretch. Sometimes he laughs and sometimes he cringes. There was a time he hung on every word that left my mouth — even when my mouth was full of chocolate.
Last week, he asked, “What’s that half-eaten bag of chocolate chips doing on the night stand, Michelle?” Like he doesn’t know. After 30 years. Really?
He also knows I love animals. And I’m addicted to “Dateline.” And I get my head stuck in dresses from time to time.
Just like I know he loves fishing and golfing and movies starring Tom Hanks.
Oh and he also enjoys barbecuing — which I find incredibly sexy, especially because I don’t have to cook.
Recently, I mistook a bottle of cayenne pepper for a bottle of paprika while preparing chicken stew. Flames leapt from my husband’s tongue but he still finished his dinner. Just when you think your husband is hot, he gets a whole lot hotter.
After 30 years, we can still spice things up.
