Being With A Gamer Can Be An Armful

(It’s Christmas Eve. My husband and I have just got home after getting in a very bad car accident on the highway. He’s mostly fine but I think my arm might be broken. I’m exhausted but the pain prevents me from lying down.)

Husband: *worried* “We can still go to the hospital.”

Me: “No, we’d be there all through Christmas. It’s late and I want to sleep. I’m just all tense and can’t relax, even with the painkillers.”

Husband: “I wish there was something I could do.”

Me: *joking* “You could always play that one video game you like that always puts me to sleep.”

Husband: “I could…”

Me: “I was just joking! You need your sleep, too.”

Husband: “I’m not as injured as you. Come on, get comfortable on the couch.”

(It worked like a charm and I fell asleep quite quickly. The next day we learned that I’d fractured my elbow, and I was given very strong painkillers so I could sleep in bed. When people ask me what I see in him, I remember the time he sat up all night, while hurt and exhausted, to play a game he’d already beaten a dozen times just so I could sleep.)