My husband was human (and male) all week, so why was I only being mean on Fridays?

"Should I just get used to you yelling at me every Friday?”

I looked at my husband of several months, opened my mouth to reply, but quickly shut it. I had no defense. He was totally right. I spent my Fridays heaping criticism on him.

When did I switch from newlywed angel to devil in the kitchen?

From the moment I got engaged, I was euphoric. No matter how many times I pinched myself, I couldn’t believe I was really engaged — and to the best guy in the entire world. For months after the wedding I was still pinching myself (and chasdei Hashem, in many ways, I still am, more than two decades later) and heaping praise on my knight in shining armor.

Still, at some point it became obvious to me that I’d married a human, a male one, who didn’t read my mind. He bought the wrong things at the grocery store (I put spaghetti squash on the list; he bought pasta and zucchini — true story). He ate the can of corn I’d planned to use to make a corn salad for Shabbos (uh, maybe because no one had made anything for lunch). He offered help when I didn’t need any and didn’t offer it when I did.

But my husband was human (and male) all week, so why was I only being mean on Fridays?