The weekend Sam and I got engaged, ol’ Snarky McSnarkerson started giving me a hard time.

"When people say, ‘Oooh, tell me about your engagement!,' they're not looking for a twenty-minute story," he said.

"Cut out some details, ya weirdo" (a term of endearment in our relationship).

So the next time a friend said, "Oooh, tell me about your engagement!" I ceded the floor to Sam. "You tell the story this time, Sam," I said, gesturing for him to take the lead.

So he did. And, in less than 2 minutes, he finished the story.

Then my friend said, "What?!?"

"That's it?!? Give me some details! This is your ENGAGEMENT we’re talking about." (It was our friend Sandra, and she is the QUEEN of putting Sam in his place. She should teach classes on it.)

Naturally, I was delighted. Sam surrendered good-naturedly, and I became the engagement storyteller again.

Why am I writing about it?

Because yesterday, ol’ Snark Face struck again.

"That was a pretty self-serving morning musing today, huh?" he said, as we walked through the airport. "Telling people exactly how to treat you as a house guest when we're about to be staying with a lot of friends and family."

And I grinned, agreeing that it was, but also convinced that it was a smart thing to do. "It's wise," I insisted. "I write it up once, and then I can just send it to people instead of explaining it again and again and again."

Sam shook his head, not believing that it worked that way.

Then I opened my phone to a message from my friend Gyula, one of the friends we'll be staying with. "Friendly reminder received, point taken 🤣" he wrote.

So I showed it to Sam.

But then the real magic happened. An hour later, Gyula texted again to say, "Btw, in a last-minute turn of events, we'll have another friend crashing at our place on the 3rd and 4th. But don't worry, she is nice, and I'll forward your instruction manual to her."

So I showed THAT to Sam and then smugly went about my life.

Another point for the good guys.