Good intentions misinterpreted

As you can tell from my 2 postings within a day, I'm actually quite free. It's prelims now for my students, so while waiting for the standardization of marking, there is nothing much for me to do. So, here I am, back to blogging.

Yesterday was a dramatic day. Someone whom we (meaning I and hubby) cared about cried after confronting us. She thought that we intentionally treat her like an outsider, stopping her from doing anything for us. Well, the fact is that we didn't want her to tire herself helping us with chores. During the confrontation, she said she was very disappointed when we asked her not to bother coming to our house to cook porridge for me when I was on medical leave. We did this out of good intention, we didn't want her to travel just to make me a bowl of porridge. Furthermore I was well enough to at least put the grains and water into a pot, and turn on the gas without burning down the house. There were also other examples cited by her. Hubby was a little pissed off with her reaction, and felt a little helpless because she misinterpreted our intentions. So, he kept a super black face while I kept quiet throughout. I didn't know what to say, lest I say the wrong thing and create another misunderstanding.

Well, after the big hoo-ha, back in our own house, we sort of got into a discussion. Hubby concluded that all women are the same. 'Tears - the secret weapon of women'. Sorry, women out there, I couldn't help but agree. I, for one, am like that.

This incident set me thinking. Sometimes person A and person B do things they think the other party will appreciate. By doing so, they actually mess up the whole situation, creating unnecessary misunderstanding. I wonder if this were to happen in a marriage, what will become of the marriage? Maybe I'm thinking too much...

For now, I just hoped that when we meet this evening, we can pretend nothing has happened. Nonetheless I reckon it'll still be a little awkward.