At sewing camp last week, there were mistakes. This is not a tragedy, thanks to a small invention called a seam ripper. In fact, I have a particularly lovely one with a wooden handle which makes the task that much more pleasant. 

 

Sometimes when a student is deflated by her misstep, I offer to do the ripping for her, in exchange for a joke. It made the fixing fun. 

 

I listened to, and in fact subscribed to, a podcast produced by The Gottman Institute, called Small Things Often. That recipe appeals to me, in terms of the effort I put into my own marriage. A recent episode was about humor in your relationship. They differentiated between laughing at your partner vs with them. There was also a reminder to eschew jokes that take a stab at your partner's family. A marriage counselor I visited articulated the importance of respecting that vulnerable area of your spouse's life. 

 

John can be funny. Very funny, in fact. On my birthday, I got to make a wish, and I spent it on inviting the people at our house to play a game. The objective is to get your partner to say a series of phrases that may or may not make sense, and John can suggest without cheating at great speed. I forget if our team won, but then his rule always leaped right over winners and losers. 

 

"The person who has the most fun wins." 

 

Plus, it makes repairs in my marriage more pleasant.