The Great Mehaffey Compromise of 2010

Brad and I have struck a deal. The Deal of all deals, actually. I do believe it's a win-win situation.

I've been a Harry Potter addict since high school.  You know, that kind of fan. When we first got married, and he was still trying to impress me with his kindness, I persuaded him to read the books. He got through the first three (rather quickly, I might add) before school started back up. Once the new semester began demanding his attention, and he caught a glimpse of the swelled size of Book 4, he backed away from the series. It wasn't long until he was talking trash of HP and making comments about how dumb it is and poking fun at me for my obsession. Once he set his mind against Harry, I was never able to convince him to pick the books back up, again.

This sort of Potter abuse has been going on for five years, now! Can you imagine?? Even I can't believe I've survived this long. Granted, he's always been generous when it comes to the movies and the midnight releases of those movies, but it never goes without a little chastisement, and he'd never consider actually reading the books.

Anyway, last week, I had had the last straw. It actually wasn't even anything he did, but rather, bonding Potter experiences I had shared with other HP fans at work. We make wizarding references all the time; they serve as a sort of inside joke that links us together in a world full of oblivious muggles. We have so much fun discussing the books and joking about characters as if they're our own friends, that it made me sad for the connection that Brad and I were missing. That was it. I had had enough of his silly anti-Potter activity. It was simply unacceptable.

I became a woman on a mission. On my way home from work, I called Brad and asked him what he'd want if he could get me to do anything. (Get your mind out of the gutter people...) I told him I had a huge favor I wanted from him, and I wondered what it'd take for him to do it. But I didn't tell him what the favor was, yet. I knew he'd laugh it off once he knew, and this was no laughing matter. This was a very serious request, and he needed time to think of it.

First, he wanted me to run a marathon. (I believe he was throwing out the impossible simply to test my devotion to the secret request.) I scoffed and suggested possibly a half-marathon. He counter-offered with a requirement that I, in fact, run the entire 13.1 miles. Not possible. He then settled for two separate 5k's, running the duration of both 3.1 mile races. I tentatively agreed...

Before Brad made that his final offer, he insisted that he knew exactly what he was promising. So I hit him with it: read the entire Harry Potter series by the end of the year.

He rolled his eyes, astonished that I was going to such great lengths to make this happen, and insisted the stakes be raised. He wanted a home-cooked meal every week for a year. (I know that, like, every other wife on the planet makes something around 5-7 meals per week, but I just don't have it in me.) I rebuttaled with a meal every other week. Done. But he still wanted the 5k's. No deal. Negotiations ensued. Only one 5k, and we'd run it together. Deal.

So, the Great Mehaffey Compromise of 2010 settled under these terms: Brad will read the entire Harry Potter series, all 7 books, by the end of the year in exchange for a home-cooked meal, that does not have a main dish from a box and is never repeated, every other week from August 2010 through July 2011, and we'll also run a 5k together.

Although running is the equivalent of pulling off my fingernails, and I'm terrible at / afraid of cooking, I still feel like this is a Mindy victory! I've had to listen to 5 years of him berating my fictional love, and now he'll love it too!! He, however, claims that he got the better end of the stick. Turns out, he never hated Harry to begin with (surprise, surprise). He just knew how crazy I was about it and "thought it was funny" (not funny) to pick on me for it.

He boasts that this is going to be the easiest promise he's ever made. So easy, in fact, that he's already finished the first book, in one night!! Oh, that's right. He thinks he's proving a point to me, but I'm just so excited that we're both going to be Potter fans! Imagine the conversations we'll have about portkeys and polyjuice potions and Hungarian Horntails and rooms of requirement and invisibility cloaks and real live gnomes... Oh, the possibilities are endless!!

Yes, this is definitely a win-win situation.

Hey, what can I say? Marriage is all about compromise.

PS. If you have any great and easy recipes, please send them my way! I'm looking for approximately 25 of them. And by easy, I  mean supa.easy! Thanks!

[pics via here, here, and here]