Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Companionship Inventory

When Skylar and I got married my motherthe woman who birthed me into this worldthe being from whom my body emerged through a process she has since called "a bloody massacre"the person is supposed to live her life in absolutely loyalty to methat mother committed an absolute hate crime against her only son.

She didn't mean to hurt me, I think, when she told my husbandthe man who swore to worship me in front of all the angels in heaven at an extremely expensive party where I had to pay for napkins that must have been made of pure gold considering how much they costmy mother gave that man advice that has resulted in a scheduled and weekly torture session for me ever since.

"Good marriages require you to be on the same page," she told him. "So I'd suggest you pick one night a week to have a planning session where you can talk about what you have going on over the next seven days, schedule quality time, and discuss any areas where your relationship might need work."

Well, Skylar what's his name frickin loved this idea. And the next thing I knew, a recurring event was added to our shared calendar on Sunday nights. "Companionship Inventory."

Skylar had just learned this phrase from some absolute monster of a person who decided to start teaching him Mormon lingo so Skylar could slip it into conversations with me at random. Within just the few weeks before this, he had told me "the Holy Ghost goes to bed at midnight" and to "return with honor" when I left the house. But none of his new phrases caused me as much immediate emotional pain as "companionship inventory."

For the uninitiated, "companionship inventory" is a thing Mormon missionaries do on a regular basis. It's essentially the activity my mother proposed we try. A companionship of Mormon missionaries assigned to be together at all times sits down and talks about the schedule and then they have a heart-to-heart about any problems going on in the missionary companionship. 

If you mention the words "companionship inventory" to anyone who ever served a Mormon mission, the vast majority of those people will immediately start experiencing an eye twitch.

Pretty much everyone who has had to do it has at least one horror story. Like when one of my companions asked me if I was gay and attracted to him and I was like "NO and HELL NO" when really the answer was "obviously yes and HELL NO." (Lots of hygiene issues). And then I had to spend the next ten weeks pretending to be totes masc and way into sports games so as to convince him I was telling the truth.

So when my husband, the future mother of my kidney stones, decided to put "Companionship Inventory" on our shared calendar, telling me that we were going to follow my mother's advice, I suddenly became a 19-year-old closeted Mormon missionary in far western Ukraine with a haircut that I describe now as "British Presbyterian lesbian from the 90s."


Just hearing Skylar say those words and then put them onto our calendar took me right back to that time. 

The next thing I knew, I was being commanded to take my seat on the living room couch for our inaugural companionship inventory, which began by Skylar looking me straight in the eyes and saying, "tell me what you like about me." When I started listing attributes of his personality, he interrupted and said "that's all fine and good, but am I hot or not?"

Sunday evening companionship inventories have been happening ever since. We go through our calendar for the week. We plan what needs a plan. Then Skylar ends it by saying "what can I do to be supportive of you this week?" I strain to come up with something, but I do anyway because it feels like I'm supposed to. He thanks me for the feedback and then nods encouragingly at me in a way that clearly says "now ask me . . ." So then I roll my eyes and say "and what can I do to be supportive of you this week?" to which he responds, "nothing. You're perfect just as you are" and I don't know why it always catches me off guard when he does this and makes me look bad because he went first and I actually came up with something that looks a lot like criticism of him as a partner.

Then we go to bed, Skylar smiling, me in a huff because I'm somehow still living the life of a 2003 Mormon missionary. Except, I guess it's a little better this time. Because I have wine now. And, I suppose, a companion I quite like.

Please enjoy this week's Strangerville:


This time in Strangerville, how was your Insurrection Day? Meg and Eli discuss it. And Eli shares a story about what it felt like to close out 2020.

Story

A New Kind of Peace, by Eli McCann (music by Our Friendly Beasts)

Production by Eli McCann & Meg Walter

~It Just Gets Stranger

10 comments:

  1. Ugh. I loved my mission. I'm well-adjusted and don't really have much if any baggage from my mission. I know people who legitimately have PTSD from their missions. I don't. And yet I feel COMPLETELY TRIGGERED when I hear "companionship inventory."

    I have a feeling I could pull them off if I went through it now, with the tools I've learned from a psych degree, a law degree, and 8 years of experience mediating, but as a 19-year-old those were the most painful, counterproductive, hellish wastes of time. Bless you for putting your shoulder to the wheel, as it were, and pushing along.

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  2. Spit my drink out at "the future mother of my kidney stones."

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  3. Loved. " a haircut that I describe now as "British Presbyterian lesbian from the 90s." " because when I saw that picture I first thought, I wonder who that man girl is?? Sorry....maybe not sorry 🤣

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  4. My eye was already twitching from the moment I read the title and so I LOLed when I got to the "eye twitching" part. It is true. And I loved my mission. And I loved my companions. Except one. Hence the twitch. Nobody else ever made me do a companionship inventory except that one.

    BTW, my husband and I do that same thing but we call it family council. Is that a better option?

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    1. I feel like family counsel would make me feel like I’m about to be disciplined. But, yeah. It’s probably better.

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    2. We call ours "weekly planning", if you're taking alternate suggestions! (We used to call it family planning hahaha).

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  5. So happy you're doing it! It's a good thing! If you fail to plan you plan to fail. Another one for you...I could embroider it on a pillow for you....so SKYLAR could put it on the couch. LOLOL
    Mom
    XOXOXOXOXO

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  6. I love this. I need to do this. Once you have kids you'll appreciate this. We never do this and we really should because our biggest fights are about scheduling things. Thank you, Eli's mom, for this great idea.

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  7. I never served a mission, but my eye still twitches when I hear companionship inventory!! As a 19 year old I got engaged, but eventually the guy called it off. It was a messy breakup and neither of us handled it well, but some part of it included a lengthy discussion about all the things that he didn’t like so much about me/my personality/my spirituality/how messy my dorm room was. I was talking it over with a friend afterward and they said “Wow he just had a Companionship Inventory with you....?” And I’ve mentally labeled it as such ever since. Haha!

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  8. What an awesome husband! Lucky you! (Sorry not sympathetic, I think it's a good idea, but I know my husband would never go for it).

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