Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Honesty Can Hurt

Tim and I were watching a show the other day when this lady with skinny toned arms came on the screen. I turned to him and said, "My goal/dream for the summer is to have toned arms. I need you to help me."
He simply responded by saying "As long as your arms don't get more muscular than mine."
"No, no," I said. "I don't really want big muscle arms, just skinny toned arms."
"Your arms are never going to be skinny," he said matter of factly.
I gaped at him. "What?" I can't believe my husband just insulted me.
"It's not in your genes. Think about it. Have your arms ever been super skinny like what you want them to look like?"
I tried desperately to pull up a memory. As if he could read my mind he added, "Besides when you were 12." There goes that one.
He went on, "I'm not saying you can't have toned arms or that you shouldn't try. I'm just saying that you need to be realistic in what you're working for. And that woman on the screen is not built like you. She has twig arms and looks too skinny. But you can and should try to work your arms still. They just probably won't end up looking exactly like her's."
One of the things people hate about my husband is that he can be brutally honest. It's one of the things that draws me to him though. I don't want someone to sugarcoat things or flatter me to be on my good side. I want truth from my friends, from my family members. That's what he gives me.
Even if it hurts sometimes.
I'm still going to work for those arms too. He's just made me more determined.

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