Complementary

While helping the husband with his exam revisions over the weekend, I made a discovery.

Where he is athletic, nimble and quite a physical champ; I’m clumsy. (I mean, I run and rock-climb like a whiz - really! - but I’m admittedly not that great on the psychomotor front.)
Where he is a strong thinker and logical mostly, I’m emotional.
Where he’s good in mathematics and science and theories, I’m lousy in all of the above.

On the flip side, I’m good in language, whimsical stories, singing and playing music; in organising and planning ahead of time; which are not his strengths.

I was rather startled by this realisation – I mean, where our strengths are concerned, we are complete opposites! I then remember that when we took the MBTI tests some years back, our traits were completely different. That test covered areas such as where we draw our strengths, how we absorb and process information and how we manage tasks by time.

When I raised this difference between us, the husband jumped to this deduction – maybe that’s why we got married and we have a good relationship. His theory is that we each have our own areas of expertise and we do not clash in opinions (say, I’m going to let him do the maths and not debate that he’s wrong since I can barely add). While there is some validity in that, I think that it is not entirely true. After all, it is a couple’s maturity level and how they communicate with each other – they may agree to disagree and co-exist harmoniously.

I think what makes the husband and I tick is that we respect each other; and I also think that our foundation is similar. We have similar values of respect, filial piety; we appreciate family time and we agree on many things because we think alike.

We are complementary.