Recently, my wife and I have been struggling with insomnia. For my wife, it is because she is pregnant. For me, it is because of work-related stress. This past Friday morning, my body decided that three in the morning, after only four hours of sleep, was the perfect time to wake up. I quietly went into the living room and worked on my writing and watched a few videos on youtube. And then around seven, I heard a faint, "yobo" (the Korean version of "honey") coming from the bedroom. Dutifully and with pleasure, I dropped everything and went to my lovely wife. At the beginning of our marriage, I resolved to always try to stop what I'm doing and go to my wife. Little things to show her that I love her.
The two of us lay on the bed, and, like most mornings, we chatted about breakfast. Most of the time, my wife and I eat separate meals. She usually eats something Korean - possibly banchan or miyokguk. I usually eat something Western like cereal or a bagel. This morning, my wife said she wanted to eat pancakes. Not just any pancakes but pancakes at our favorite brunch restaurant. Now, my classes started at noon, so I had much of the morning off. I only needed to get to my office by 11 am to get ready for the classes. So, that did give us plenty of time, but the restaurant was a good hour away from home and a good hour away from work. This meant that if we were to do this, we had to get ready in the next ten minutes.
But when your pregnant wife wants something, you move heaven and earth to try to do it.
And we quickly found ourselves on the bus heading to Itaewon, the foreigner district of Seoul. The pancakes were worth the inconvenience! The omelet...well, that was my wife's choice. They were good, but I preferred the pancakes. The bacon probably clogged my arteries a bit, but they were also worth the trip. All in all, the spontaneous breakfast was a wonderful memory shared with my wife that I can add to the box in her dresser with all the other memories.
Clearly, I love my wife. And pancakes.
PS: If you haven't noticed, there are no pictures of my wife on this website. She is a lot more private than me, so, to honor her privacy, you will only catch blurred glimpses of her. ;)
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