Husband Follies Number COVID-19 – Liquor is Quicker

For those who love reading my Husband Follies blogs and note that they are all slightly teasing in tone, I must first note here that I am married to a wonderful guy who I adore, and I appreciate him all the more as we go through this stay at home order and I am with him 24/7. (If you need some entertainment during your confinement, simply enter Husband Follies into my blog search feature and you can spend a day reading and laughing. There are too many to link here so you have to do the work!)

I can’t help making fun of his quirks, but first I must heap some praise on him. He has kept me fed, and laughing, and entertained during this time. He finds funny memes and has a hearty laugh over them with me, or I find some and he enjoys it. He is fun, even during this period of time fraught with fear and uncertainty. We are enjoying music, movies, and new television shows together. I thought we would get on each other’s nerves being together so much since we are normally very independent, and do sporting activities and get-togethers with friends separately during real life. But that is not the case and if anything, this scourge has brought us closer. I am enjoying being with him and realizing that even though we are opposites, we are a match made in heaven. And that my friends, is truly a blessing.

For today’s topic, I had written my just previous blog to this one on the roller coaster of COVID-19 emotions, (read here) and my husband Gary replied on one of my posts that this period of time has NOT affected him emotionally one bit. Not in the slightest. Not one little bit. He is not stressed OR anxious OR depressed so he said.

My husband is a man who is the opposite of me and my psychological thinking and analysis of just about everything. He also may not be in touch with his own emotions. I submit the following evidence of his stress and or anxiety, which he claims he does NOT have due to this crisis.

For one, neither my husband or I are big drinkers. We keep an occasional bottle of wine in the house, and Gary enjoys an occasional beer. Mixed drinks are only for dining out and we enjoy lightweight ones like Mango Margaritas, Mojitos, (both me) and Cosmopolitans. (Both – and regular Margaritas for Gary.) When we cruise, bringing a bottle of wine will last us most of the cruise, except for maybe one or two mixed drinks, and we never purchase a liquor package.

So then, can you explain to me why Gary has been stocking our home with the largest supply of liquor we have ever had in our abode since this thing began? (see photo above.) He has purchased hard alcohol, Mixers for goodness sakes, and a sixteen pack of beer. There is now enough wine purchased to last me an entire year. Can you explain to me why he needs a nightly shot of tequila, or a mixed drink, or both? This is not his normal behavior. This new behavior seems to be brought on to calm his nerves and stress. Yes, that same stress he claims he does not have.

He is also engaged in other self-soothing behaviors – stress-relieving gameplay, sleeping in a bit, and being a couch potato most of the time. He is normally quite active with regular exercise, but I have quit nagging him about taking walks. He seems content to be inactive, and I do not want to stress him out further. He hates to be nagged.

Finally, as you and I know, comfort food helps when you need comforting from stress and anxiety. Carbohydrates, sweets, and treats are the order of the day in our household since this period of time began. This is quite contrary to Gary’s normal watching his Carb intake and his limiting sweets. He got so much off sugar, that everything tasted too sweet to him for a while. Now, nothing is too sweet. He is off the wagon but good. (And you MUST read the Husband Follies blog on when he first got off carbs, linked here.)https://arlenelassin.com/husband-follies-episode-number-185-giving-up-carbs/

So there you have it, my friends. My husband who claims there is NO emotional toll on him during this COVID-19 plague is showing signs that anyone could diagnose as behaviors to reduce stress or anxiety. So, if he says he is not stressed, just believe him. Right? Riiiiight. (Insert eye roll here.)