Todd, my husband, turned 35, and I had planned a fancy dinner for him. But just before the guests came, he skipped the party to watch the game at a bar. What did you do next? To put it simply, I won.
\nAfter six years of marriage, you\u2019d think Todd would learn to be thankful, but he hasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
I would throw my whole heart and soul into his birthday every year, but he would never notice.<\/p>\n
But this year, he felt even more entitled than usual.<\/p>\n
Six years. That\u2019s how long I\u2019ve been married to Todd.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not all bad in our relationship, don\u2019t get me wrong. Todd can be very nice when he wants to, and we\u2019ve had a great time together. There is one thing about him, though, that really angers me.<\/p>\n
His right to it.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s look at last Thanksgiving. Todd came up with the great idea of having a dinner for both of our families. He said it at breakfast one day with a big grin, as if he had just fixed the world\u2019s hunger problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire,\u201d he said, \u201cI believe we should host Thanksgiving this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
I said, \u201cOkay.\u201d \u201cThat sounds good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Todd played fantasy football for two weeks while I planned and got ready.<\/p>\n
I roasted the turkey, made side foods, and even baked two pies for the big day.<\/p>\n
And Todd? He brought the cooler full of beer into the living room. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n
As everyone talked about how great the food and decorations were after dinner, Todd thought it was time to take the lead on everything.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cI\u2019m glad you all love it.\u201d \u201cThis year I wanted it to be different.\u201d<\/p>\n
I guess he didn\u2019t notice me.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s all there is to say about Todd. He doesn\u2019t want to do anything but want credit. It showed me that he wasn\u2019t the man I was in love with anymore.<\/p>\n
Then it was his 35th birthday. The last blow.<\/p>\n
Todd told me about his plans while we were having dinner.<\/p>\n
He told Claire, \u201cThis year for my birthday I want a big, fancy dinner.\u201d \u201cGet my family, my friends, and everyone else to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
I gave them a raised look. \u201cAre you telling me to plan it?\u201d<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cWell, yeah.\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re good at this.\u201d Please just make it nice, okay? I don\u2019t want to look bad in front of everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry?\u201d I said again.<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay, don\u2019t go too far or anything.\u201d \u201cKeep it classy.\u201d<\/p>\n
I really didn\u2019t want to agree, but I did so I could give him another chance. It was his birthday, so I wanted to make it extra special, even though he didn\u2019t deserve it.<\/p>\n
I worked hard over the next two weeks to plan Todd\u2019s \u201cbig, proper birthday dinner.\u201d I would give him classy if he asked for it.<\/p>\n
I would always tie my hair back when I got home from work and then get to work cleaning, sorting, and getting ready. To make sure everyone had a spot, I even asked our neighbor Janice for extra chairs and a folding table.<\/p>\n
What did Todd add? Not a single thing.<\/p>\n
He took off his shoes and sat down on the couch one night, saying, \u201cI\u2019m swamped at work.\u201d \u201cBut you got this, honey.\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re good at these things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Are you good at these things? I was so worn out I almost cried.<\/p>\n
I almost snapped, but I smiled and said, \u201cYeah, I got this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The party day had finally come.<\/p>\n
I got up early because I was determined to do a great job.<\/p>\n
There was no dirt in the house. Covers that matched and little name cards that I had written by hand were on the table. The starters were getting cold, the main meals were cooking, and edible gold flakes were on top of the cake.<\/p>\n
I did go that far.<\/p>\n
On his way into the kitchen around noon, Todd looked at his phone as he always does. He didn\u2019t even look at the meal I made for him.<\/p>\n
He shut the fridge door and said, \u201cLooks good.\u201d He then said, \u201cBut hey, uh, don\u2019t bother finishing all this,\u201d as if it weren\u2019t a big thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead, I\u2019m going to the bar with the guys to watch the game.\u201d Stop everything. Tell everyone what happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not going to your birthday dinner?\u201d I asked. \u201cThis has been in the works for weeks, Todd!\u201d<\/p>\n
He shook his head and said, \u201cIt\u2019s not a big deal, Claire.\u201d \u201cCall everyone and say something like, \u2018We\u2019re busy,’\u201d \u201cThey\u2019ll get it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTodd, you can\u2019t do this!\u201d He had already left when I yelled.<\/p>\n
It broke my heart. I put everything I had into this dinner, but he left like it was nothing.<\/p>\n
Throw everything out? After all the work I did?<\/p>\n
But what hurt me the most was how ashamed I felt.<\/p>\n
How could he be so mean to me? How could he ignore everything I did as if it didn\u2019t matter?<\/p>\n
I looked at the table while the candles flickered in a mean way.<\/p>\n
Claire, is this how much you\u2019re worth? I asked myself. Are you okay with Todd treating you this way? Not at all. This is not possible.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when I chose not to cancel the dinner. He can\u2019t make me feel bad again.<\/p>\n
It would be okay for Todd to act like a spoiled brat, but I would make him see what \u201cembarrassing\u201d really means. He didn\u2019t know who he was joking around with.<\/p>\n
I took out my phone and texted all the guests:<\/p>\n
There\u2019s still a party! Plans have changed. Come meet us at the bar on the main street near where we live. Bring something to eat!<\/p>\n
After that, I went to work.<\/p>\n
The food was all packed up and put in the car. After that, I went right to the bar Todd had told me about.<\/p>\n
The place was already very noisy when I got there. I turned around and saw Todd sitting with his friends at a table, his back to the door. He had no idea that I was there at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cUh, ma\u2019am?\u201d Could I help you?\u201d The bartender asked with wide eyes when he saw the food trays I was bringing.<\/p>\n
I gave him the nicest smile. \u201cOh, I\u2019m just getting together with some nice people to share a meal.\u201d<\/p>\n
I chose a table by the bar where I could see Todd\u2019s group clearly and started setting out dish after dish. Everyone quickly paid attention when they smelled the food. People in the area strained their eyes to see what was going on.<\/p>\n
Some people looked at the feast I was putting up and asked, \u201cWhat\u2019s this about?\u201d<\/p>\n
My voice was just loud enough to be heard across the room. \u201cOh, this was supposed to be the birthday dinner for my husband.\u201d I asked myself, \u201cWhy let all this food go to waste?\u201d when he left me and came here.<\/p>\n
A few people even clapped, and the room was filled with murmurs and laughing. That\u2019s when Todd finally saw me and turned around.<\/p>\n
He rushed over right away while his friends were talking quietly to each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire!\u201d Are you crazy? What are you doing?\u201d He hissed and looked nervously back and forth between me and the growing crowd.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t seem to notice him.<\/p>\n
Instead, I spoke to the group of customers who were closest to me. \u201cDo you like ham?\u201d Do something! \u201cThere will also be cake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Todd was about to say something else when the front door opened and his parents, my parents, his sister, and our cousins came in.<\/p>\n
First they looked at us, then at the food, and finally at everyone eating at what was meant to be a fancy dinner.<\/p>\n
Todd\u2019s mom walked right up to him, which I thought was very honest. \u201cTodd, what\u2019s wrong?\u201d Claire told us to meet here for dinner on your birthday, but why is she doing that in a bar?<\/p>\n
Todd looked like he wanted to fall through the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cUh, Mom, it\u2019s complicated,\u201d he said in a low voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, I\u2019d love to explain!\u201d I stepped in. \u201cTodd chose to watch the game with his friends instead of the dinner he\u2019d asked me to plan.\u201d I brought him dinner because of this!\u201d<\/p>\n
His dad just shook his head. He said in a low voice, \u201cHow disrespectful.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the same time, my mom picked up a plate and said, \u201cThe food smells great.\u201d \u201cLet\u2019s eat!\u201d<\/p>\n
We soon joined the other customers and ate the feast I had worked so hard on.<\/p>\n
What about Todd\u2019s friends? Still making fun of him, they told him they would never forget that day.<\/p>\n
The bar felt like a real party by the time I brought out the cake. I had written on top of the cake in big letters made of frosting:<\/p>\n
Happy birthday to my selfish husband!<\/p>\n
People in the bar laughed out loud when I read it, but Todd wasn\u2019t too happy about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWere you really supposed to do this, Claire?\u201d He said something under his breath.<\/p>\n
I cocked my head and smiled sweetly. \u201cCertainly.\u201d<\/p>\n
After everyone was done, I began to pack up the empty trays. But the bartender stopped me at that point.<\/p>\n
He told her, \u201cMa\u2019am, you\u2019re a giant.\u201d \u201cIf you ever come back, drinks are on me.\u201d Of course not with him!\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed. \u201cThanks!\u201d I\u2019ll stop by sometime.<\/p>\n
Following the end of the food, the families left quickly. As he left, my dad gave me a proud nod. Todd\u2019s mom, on the other hand, told him he could have done better.<\/p>\n
Todd kept saying that he felt \u201chumiliated\u201d as we drove back home. He fought even more when we got back.<\/p>\n
He threw his hands up and said, \u201cClaire, you made me look bad in front of everyone!\u201d<\/p>\n
I shot back, \u201cNo, Todd.\u201d \u201cYou made yourself look bad.\u201d Just so you know, don\u2019t expect another home-cooked meal any time soon.<\/p>\n
At that point, he knew he couldn\u2019t argue with me. He turned around and stomped off to his room.<\/p>\n
Todd is not the same as he was that night, two weeks have passed. Okay, mostly. He is being a lot nicer than normal, like he\u2019s afraid I\u2019ll pull another stunt like that. His unreasonable demands have gone down.<\/p>\n
What would you have done if you were me?<\/p>\n
This work is based on real people and events, but it has been made up for artistic reasons. To protect privacy and make the story better, names, characters, and circumstances have been changed. Any similarity to real people, living or dead, or real events is completely accidental and not on purpose by the author.<\/p>\n
thecelebritist.com is the source.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Todd, my husband, turned 35, and I had planned a fancy dinner for him. But just before the guests came, he skipped the party to watch the game at a bar. What did you do next? To put it simply, I won. After six years of marriage, you\u2019d think Todd would learn to be thankful, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28585"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28586,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28585\/revisions\/28586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}