I’ve often heard the expression “no good deed goes unpunished,” but never really understood it. How do good deeds actually get punished? I’ve had a lot of people do very nice things for me over the years, and I never knew any of them to get punished for it.
This week I found out firsthand what the expression is all about.
It all began because I married a morning person. Morning people are great, and obviously I love one in particular very much. I think it’s wonderful that he wakes up without the aid of an alarm clock and in a good humor. I really admire this. The only problem is that I am not a morning person. I am a night owl. So when he’s ready for bed (about an hour after he’s been snoozing in his recliner) at 9:30, I’m ready for a game of scrabble. Conversely, when he hops out of bed and whispers a cheery, “good morning,” I merely roll over and bury my head under the pillow.
After several decades of marriage, we’ve fine-tuned this small difference in our biorhythms so that it actually helps both of us. In the early morning, he gets up and watches the news and works out. Both of these are activities I loathe and so he gets them out of the way without me having to be involved in any way. After he retires for the night, I watch a Hallmark movie or two that have been recorded. Since he thinks these are the least interesting movies in the world, I get them out of our queue without forcing him to nap through, I mean watch, them.
Each of us takes some care to be quiet when the other is asleep. Last week, I noticed that the bathroom door next to our bedroom have hinges that squeak very loudly. I noticed it because it was midnight when I opened the door and created this awful noise while hubby was several feet away, sleeping.
The next day, I used the WD40 to oil those pesky hinges. The door moved back and forth soundlessly and I felt pretty good about my good deed.
Fast forward to that evening. We were getting ready for bed (because I always put on my jammies when he does – again so as to be quiet as a little mouse when I do climb into bed). He was in the bathroom brushing his teeth and I came in to get my cold cream. I hugged him around the waist and he jumped, exclaiming, “Gosh, your hands are cold!” I followed that up in the way of any good wife, and immediately put my hands on his back and then on his tummy. He turned around, toothbrush in mouth, and tried to reach to tickle me.
This went on for a few exchanges until I realized that he is much bigger and stronger than I, so I turned and began to race out of the bathroom.
This is when I discovered that by oiling the hinges, I had created an easily-moving door. It moved so easily that when you opened it, it gradually began to swing shut. I discovered this when my forehead smacked into the edge of the door very hard.
Ouch. I had a red mark (now a bruise) and a tiny little knot. My husband immediately grabbed me and held me tight and asked if I was okay. Of course, I’m totally okay physically. Even better, now I fully understand the meaning of “no good deed goes unpunished.”
I should have just let the squeaky door alone.
this is classy stuff as usual and we really need to get reader’s Digest to post your stuff OFTEN!!