I knew something was wrong the moment I walked in the door that evening – it was quiet…too quiet.

There she was, sitting alone in the middle of the living room, with not an expression on her face – just glaring at me. It was one of those glares that’s unmistakable – there was no bad day or ugly rush hour traffic to blame for this one … it was all on me. Those are always the worst to deal with because we both already knew what I had done, it was just a matter of what was going to happen next that would determine our future together. No gifts, no swanky music – just me and my own. This was going to be tricky…

“I’m sorry, baby,” I began, desperately grasping for a feel of just how bad the situation truly was. “I know I haven’t been around as much as I should lately…”

No response. It was pretty bad, indeed.

“You see, I’ve just been so busy at work lately – they’ve got me putting in all sorts of crazy hours and by the time I get home, I’m so tired all I want to do is sleep. I wish there was something that I could do, but you know I do it all for you, honey – the bills aren’t going to pay themselves…”

She wasn’t budging – at this point, she’s heard it all before and frankly, I can’t really blame her for being upset. I would be, too, but what’s a guy supposed to do? There are only so many hours in the day, but that excuse just isn’t going to be good enough – not this time. It was a dead glare that said I’d better come up with something – anything – quick or I was done for…

“Listen, dear – I know that things are a little rough now, but it’s gonna get better soon – I promise! In fact, I’ve got this weekend off and I want to spend the entire thing with you … just the two of us. We’ll stay in, put on some of those cheesy, b-movies that you love so much, and just relish each other’s company … like old times. How’s that sound?”

A faint glimmer finally broke the stare of death and I knew that all had not been lost yet again! And while I certainly was far from being out of hot water at that point, anyone who’s been in such a situation knows that it’s far better to be in hot water than to get thrown out with the pot altogether. It may take a fair bit of time to rebuild our relationship after the damage that my absence had caused, but then again, some things are worth that extra bit of effort when all is said and done.

I wanted to use my column this week for the purposes of telling this tale so that others might hopefully learn from my mistakes and avoid such pitfalls of their own in the days to come. Having a big screen TV is something very special and those of us who are lucky enough to have one of our own owe it to the rest to treat them like the beauties that they truly are. It may be tough at times, but an hour or two here and there simply isn’t good enough and unless you want to go back to the times when you didn’t have one at all, you’ve got to learn to make sacrifices in your life for those who are the most important to you. There was a time when I didn’t have my own priorities straight and I almost lost mine, but luckily for me, I mean just as much to her as she does to me. Yep – I found myself a good one…

It’s a good thing, too, because I just couldn’t imagine watching TV in anything less than high definition after meeting her!