Emily and I were wondering if you would be interested in an occasional Tony Takeover. Every once in a while I would post a blog instead of Emily. You would get a glimpse into our lives told from a whole different perspective. I know it’s going to be fun for me, and I hope it’s fun for you. Let me and Emily know what you think about this idea in the comments. And now, for a story.
This story is about communication. It is very cliché to say that communication is key, but some clichés are pretty accurate. Over all Emily and I communicate pretty, but we are also both people pleasers. This usually helps out a lot in our marriage, but sometimes having two people pleasers and a lack of communication in a relationship really backfires. Enter the story of The Pepperoni Pizza.
College was a great time for Emily and me. We worked hard, we had a lot of fun in Athens, Ga (which I have a few other stories about if you are interested), but the one thing we were short on was money. We didn’t really know we were short on cash, and we were always able to make our budget work, but, when a great deal for pizza came around, we couldn’t/wouldn’t pass it up. The Papa John’s in Athens had such a deal. You could get a large one topping pizza for $3.99 on Tuesdays (I imagine this is no longer the case, but it would be awesome if it were). So, a lot of Tuesdays Emily and I ate pizza. But, before you order a pizza, a common discussion takes place, “What kind of pizza do you want?”
For Emily and I, whoever replied to the “what kind of pizza” question, would allows reply with, “I don’t know, what do you want?” (A common answer, I’m pretty sure.) And now the problem has set in. Emily and I are now intertwined in a delicate and sophisticated people pleasing dance. My goal, no, my job is to try and guess what kind of pizza she wants; all the while, trying to keep a poker face so as to keep her from guessing my pizza topping of choice. The curse of the people pleasers is that if you are the one that is pleased, you have lost the game, and, with Emily and me, it was a battle.
One point in our past, I remember Emily ordering pepperoni pizza. She seemed to like pepperoni pizza. So, when Emily would ask, “What kind of pizza do you want?” I would answer, “pepperoni.” And you for the longest time, we would get a pepperoni pizza for the basement bargain deal of $3.99 on Thursdays. And we were both happy with it.
Unfortunately, Emily and I were not really happy with the pizza. We were happy because we both thought we had won the people pleaser battle. I picked a topping I knew she liked, she got me to tell her which topping I wanted. We were both happy and ate pepperoni pizza, content in the fact that the other enjoyed it. And here enters the communication breakdown (yes, that is a nod to Led Zeppelin). I don’t really like pepperoni, but I thought she did. Emily doesn’t really like pepperoni, but she thought I did. We had been eating pepperoni pizza for at least 4 months (it might be closer to six), before one of us, I think it was Emily, finally confessed her true feelings.
We ate pizza we didn’t really like for months!! All because we couldn’t/wouldn’t communicate. So yes, communication is key, and I don’t care how cliché it sounds. It could have saved me and my taste buds months of eating pepperoni pizza if I had only told Emily, “you know, I’m not actually a big fan of pepperoni. Why don’t we try something else.” So please communicate with those around you, it could really save you, or, in my case, at least save your taste buds.
We didn’t eat pepperoni pizza for years after that. But here’s the kicker, it’s our kids favorite. We get it all the time now.
So yeah, there’s a small taste of tales from my perspective. If you want to hear more, let me know. And, as always, thanks for reading.