Tag: Noelle Nelson

You had your toenails painted a bright luminous blue with op-art squiggles—a radical departure from your usually squiggle-less pale pink—and wiggle your bare toes happily when you're getting ready for bed that night. Does your husband notice? No, he just stays glued to the 11:00 o'clock news, even though nothing particularly earth-shattering is going on. You try harder. You put a foot between him and the TV, wiggle it around and say, "Notice anything different?" and he says, "Huh? Could you put your foot down, honey, I can't see the TV." So you do, and get in your side of the bed, angrily punching a place for your head in the pillow, feeling deprived and pouty.

You wonder what's changed since those wonderful early days when he worshipped the ground you walked on. You wonder why your friends, co-workers and even the cashier at the supermarket will give you compliments, but your husband never does.