22 Years and The Drippy Faucet

June 18, is our 22nd anniversary.  Since I wrote the story about our wedding day (and the wreck afterwards!) last year, I'll go a different route this year.

In the early years of our marriage, from time to time Joe would say I was nagging.  You know that in the Bible, nagging is described in various ways:

Delilah nagging Samson to tell her what made him strong:

Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength." With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death. Judges 16:15-16

Apparently some of Solomon's many, many wives had a nagging problem (all verses below are CEV version):

A nagging wife goes on and on like the drip, drip, drip of the rain. Proverbs 19:13

It's better out in the desert than at home with a nagging, complaining wife. Proverbs 21:19

The steady dripping of rain and the nagging of a wife are one and the same. Proverbs 27:15

Well, at the time when Joe would say I was nagging, it would hurt my feelings some times and I didn't really think I was nagging.  We didn't really argue, but it did kind of bother me......SO, after quite a while of that "accusation" of being a nagging wife, I looked up the definition of nag and here is what I found:

Nag:  "Reminding someone of something they already know". 

Hmmmmmm.  I hadn't been nagging after all!  Because, obviously I wasn't reminding Joe of something he already knew because it hadn't been or wasn't getting done, right????  Well, since I told Joe that definition all those years ago, he's never "accused" me of being a nag again.  And, you know what else?  About two years ago....twenty years into our marriage, he asks me to write him notes for everything....just so he'll remember what he's supposed to do!  Funny how all those years have changed the way we look at things, isn't it?

Oh, by the way.  Just now, when I looked up "nag" to see what the definition was online, it doesn't say what I found all those years ago.  Nope.  It says "a person who is not pleasant or agreeable", "to scold or annoy constantly", "to be a constant source of discomfort or worry".  If you happen to see Joe, please do me a favor, and don't tell him these other definitions, okay?? And, if you do see him, would you tell him he really does have a leaky faucet (NO!  It's not me!).  It's the faucet in kid's bathroom (thanks ;).

In all seriousness, I pray that I'm not a nagging wife by any of these definitions.  I'm sure I have been in the past and may still be at times, but hopefully not too often.  I look forward to spending to rest of our lives together.