They say pregnancy affects the brain. It’s true. I have strong evidentiary backing for this claim – all of it hilarious. A few weeks into Jaimie’s pregnancy, I began noticing the side effects – enough so that at one point I sat down with her and said (humorously, but a with a hint of pleading underneath), “My love, please try to keep thinking through the pregnancy.” It’s been our running joke ever since, and we’ve had our share of funny moments since then – but this one takes the cake.

When I got back from a run, Jaimie put some water on to boil to make instant rice while I took a quick shower. I got out of the shower, dried off, and put some clothes on. Fifteen minutes, perhaps. I wandered out of our bedroom, glanced at what Jaimie was doing on her computer, and headed into the kitchen, looking forward to a hearty repast of bean-and-rice burritos.

The rice water had almost entirely boiled away. Of the cup of water Jaimie was boiling, there was less than a quarter cup remaining. Naturally, I was curious – and to my incredulous query, Jaimie simply responded, “Oh! I totally forgot about it!”

Thankfully, she hadn’t started the rice.

Also, thankfully we take these things as a point of humor, because they happen sometimes in life. I can’t imagine how frustrating a marriage would be if we didn’t learn to just laugh and roll with the punches, because life just happens to us on a regular basis. Whether it’s pregnancy-brain or my coming down with mononucleosis, too many things are out of our control for us to take life – or ourselves – too seriously.

The result, gladly, is a happy home with lots of laughter. Hopefully, when our little girl joins us, she’ll pick that up from us.