A coworker brought some of these into work after the holidays from her hometown chocolate shop and they’ve been on my brain ever since. Call it the Valentine’s Day spirit, but the unusual, yet perfectly delicious combination of sweet and salty has me thinking a lot about Mr. A and I’s relationship.
And yes, I totally did just compare our marriage to a snack food.
Mr. A and I are all sorts of opposites. He’s the socialist of all butterflies and doesn’t think twice before striking up conversation. He’s not afraid to speak his mind. He’s competitive, an absolute go-getter and knows how to get a job done more efficiently than anyone I know. He’s driven, strategic, and most thoughts are completely logic.
I’m the creative and handy one and have a million things going on at one time. I suffer from self-diagnosed ADD. Sometimes long stretches of time happen before I get a certain project done. I’m hardly ever in a rush. I don’t mind if the house (yes the entire thing) is a disaster with arts, crafts, and recipes. However, I’m way organized, and am a planner to a fault. I’m more reserved and soft spoken. I’m patient, understanding, and care about people and their feelings so, so, so much.
These strikingly different personalities clash every once in a while (read: all the time), but we’re continually learning that these are not faults; they make up who the other is and that is the person we love. When we got married, I think I expected instantaneous teamwork and for our differing personalities to act as balancing scale. I thought we’d be the ying to each other’s yang. We’d rub off on each other and in return become more well rounded, better individuals. And I thought that would all happen naturally. Spoiler Alert: It doesn’t really work that way.
As time goes on and you’re on the front lines for the curve balls life throws, you see each other differently and you learn new things. And you work on acknowledging differences. We have to choose to work on it. As we work on the differences, we rely on the similarities. Because at our core, we’re very in tune. We want the same things for our future. We respect and get a kick out of the same things. And we have an unbelievable amount of fun together.
As the years go on, we’re becoming one heck of a team. I still get and will probably forever get discouraged at how different our personalities are. We bring a different set of skills to the table and like anything, we have to figure out how to use them. We find ourselves saying “I wish you…” and “Oh my gosh, why can’t you…” much less and approach areas of difference with understanding and compensation. We’re starting to compliment each other, just like these dang, addicting chocolate covered potato chips 🙂
These snacks are perfect for opposites (or anyone). To give away as a Valentine’s gift, package in a cute little bag and adhere a tag that says something like, “Like sweet & salty, we’re a great combo” or “Unexpected, but a perfect pair.”
Gather: Potato Chips with Ridges (ridges are a must) | Bakers Dipping Chocolate (It’s sold in most large grocery stores and I swear by it) | Butterscotch Chips (Optional)
Do:
1. Cover a space on your counter top with parchment paper.
2. Follow the directions on the dipping chocolate until it’s nearly melted. Throw in a handful of butterscotch chips and fully melt.
3. Dip the potato chips halfway into chocolate/butterscotch and lay on the parchment paper to dry. Anything more than half coated in chocolate got to be a little sweet overload.
4. Let fully chocolate fully harden (overnight) before devouring.
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