Marriage: Car Talks and Kaltok Moments

My breakfast last week but I'm not here to give you a rundown of reviews and comments about the too sweet coffee or the sinfully good croughnut (or did I just give you my review?).

But this post is meant to share something else - marriage and, as they say, beyond.

I'm in similar settings on some days the past weeks, killing time with breakfast and coffee. One time, I decided to try a new location being 2 hours early for work, the newly opened coffee shop across the office. The scenes and smell of our cafeteria in the mornings just got a bit tiring.

I'm usually early for work but for several days I'm SUPER early because of Stephen's erratic work schedule.

As much as I'd rather catch more zzzzs in the morning and tell husby to go ahead without me, I know that goin to work together in our car will definitely save me cab money. Plus he is paranoid about taxi scams nowadays and insists we just take the car together.

More than saving money, car rides with husby to and fro work has become our exclusive couple time. The 'car talks' are as random, funny, honest and unadulterated as it can get *wink* wink*. No qualms because we know it's only us who can hear the conversation so we swear, we debate, we rant, we do dirty talk *wink again*  and we make random chismis. Haha!

Sometimes Stephen gets confused where one story ends and the other starts, I appreciate that he is really a good listener and keeps up with me during those 'confusing' times. It's a rare trait for a guy, do you agree? If you have been reading my blog for years now, I believe you have this rare trait as well so thank you for visiting back :)

I honestly love our 'car talks' and I hope we can enjoy that for years to come. Of course, we always entertain car poolers when needed. We will behave when you're riding with us don't worry :)

We have a rule between us too of no sleeping in the car because you have to entertain whoever is driving (and it's usually Stephen). Even if it's a 30-minute or a 6-hour drive, the rule is absolute.

Oh and here's another unspoken rule: I have to pretend to be genuinely interested in basketball-related yadada and say 'Stephen supplied' comments like 'Oh really?' or 'talaga?' with much gusto.

At this point, with almost 8 years of marriage, I can tell you that communication and humor are two important factors to keep a relationship together. There is never an excuse not to make constant talks and discuss matters, even how serious or trivial, with your husband.

And humor. Well, I think it's one thing that we can laugh together with our partner, at each other and at ourselves everyday. As one Tacloban victim said when asked by a CNN reporter why they are happy, 'Laughter is the best medicine.'

If you want to have a doze of our funny moments that we fondly call our Kaltok moments, visit my Stephen's blog here. It's not updated anymore but that's basically how our everyday life is, nag-iiba iba lang ang kaltoker and kaltokee. hehe.

Here's a more recent kaltok moment:

We attended a children's birthday party yesterday and after the party, friends decided to continue to get together in another venue. With the kids in tow, of course. One friend, his wife and son rode with us in the car on the way to Starbucks.

Friend: (to Stephen) Yung kaibigan natin, wala pa baby. Sabi nga niya pagbalik niya from abroad, wala na daw labasan ng kwarto (alam niyo na yan).

Friend's son: Huh?! Bakit hindi lalabas ng kwarto Tatay? Paano yun, paano siya kakain, baka mamatay siya dun?

The adults in the car laughed silently, the kid was seriously worried.

Me: Sige, daddy, magpaliwanag ka ngayon. Explain in writing!

Everyone (err just the adults) laughed while our friend tried to string words to explain 'walang labasan sa kwarto' to his son. Guess who got one big kaltok.