It was just like clockwork. Same situation, different day.
I had left the house to go run errands, leaving the dog under his watchful eye, reminding him before I left to make sure the bathroom door stayed shut or else the trash would be scattered all throughout the living room.
Returning home a few hours later, I turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open with my left hip, arms loaded up with bags, the front door creaked open and the first survey of the dining room and living room revealed what I had hoped it would not.
The bathroom door must have been left open because our dining room and living room were littered with trash. I’m talking, tissues shredded to where it looked like tiny snowflake all over the hardwoods, empty shampoo & conditioner bottles that been chewed up, ripped open with the remnants of the liquid inside now seeping into my cowhide rug.
I set the bags down, ok maybe I threw them down, and marched through the kitchen to my husbands office where I could hear music coming from the speakers and what sounded like a somewhat important phone call he was one.
Whipping around the corner and coming up to the door of his office, I reached for the door knob, ready to fling open the door and just let him have it. ‘Seriously?!’ I thought, ‘all I asked you to do was to make sure the bathroom door wasn’t left open while I was gone, and you couldn't even do that?!.’
I knew that I should stop, we’ve been down this path a hundred times before and it never leads anywhere good. But I was so pissed.
The split second before I flung the door open and let him have it, I stopped.
‘I am responsible’ were the words that swirled through my head.
I am responsible.
Responsible.
Response able.
Response ABLE.
I may not have responsible for the situation and my living room that was littered with trash, but I was responsible for my response.
I was able to respond to my husband, kindly and graciously, despite my frustration.
My response was 100% my responsibility.
In marriage it's easy to want to split the different, make him take responsibility for his part and then you’ll take responsibility for your part.
But the truth is that your response is 100% your responsibility, regardless of what the situation is and regardless of what the circumstances are.
You are 100% able to respond.
You are response ABLE.