Simkinitis!

This is a term Nate coined to explain the idiosyncrasies he's uniformly observed in my family: the Simkins.

Some symptoms of Simkinitis are: not replacing the empty toilet paper roll, allowing toothpaste to clog at the spout, slobbering while sleeping, leaving chewed gum in random places, anything we may do that resembles something my Dad might do, acquisitioning all covers and bedspace at night, habitual lateness, gushy and consistent physical interaction (aka cuddling), inability to follow directions while driving and high likelihood of getting lost, sleeping to radio programs that primarily involve talking or storytelling (at relatively high volumes)... and various other tiny, minute, little things.

Well, over this last weekend, Des obtained some bubble gum from a checkout girl at the grocery store who took pity on him. It was a lot of gum and when we got home I tried to keep a close eye on his chewing progress. After putting Zoe to sleep, I checked in on him playing in the living room and noticed that he wasn't chewing anymore. When I asked him what happened to his bubble gum, he pointed over to the bookcase. Confused I looked over there and asked him to explain, "the picture mom". Then I noticed this -- see if you can see it.

Many of you know this story. Many years ago, when Nathan and I were in our first year of marriage, I had a bad case of leaving gum in whatever random place I could find to "save it for later". Understandably, Nathan was completely annoyed by this. He tried various shame tactics but nothing worked. I just couldn't let a good wad of gum go to waste! Finally, he brilliantly began his Relocation Counter Defense. I began to find my ABC gum in places I never would have placed it, e.g. on top of my toothbrush in the bathroom, inside my little velvet ring box where I kept my wedding ring, on top of an ice cube in the icecube tray, on the bathroom mirror, on the headboard on my side of the bed, on the wall (which took the paint off when I removed it), etc. After a short while of this counter attack, I got the point (and had some good laughs!) and have been able to throw my gum away without any pangs of regret ever since.