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From: Lazlo Zalezac <lzalezac@yahoo.com>
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Subject: {ASSM} A Different Sort Of Lifestyle 24 (MF, rom)
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Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 12:10:06 -0500
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Lazlo Zalezac
http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Lazlo_Zalezac
http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Lazlo_Zalezac
 
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<1st attachment, "Life01-24.txt" begin>

A Different Sort Of Lifestyle
Chapter 24: Dealing With Problems
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2006

"What's the matter?"

Greg had just dropped off the second from the last carpooler and 
he was alone in the car with Jim. Coming to a stop at the sign, 
Greg glanced over at his passenger and answered, "Things kind of 
fell apart at home last night."

Jim Green looked concerned and asked, "What happened?"

"I don't really understand what happened. The kids were in a bad 
mood and that seemed to infect all of us. Everything just fell apart. 
All of the work we've done to fix the marriage was going down the 
drain. My wife was upset and after a short discussion, she stormed 
off," Greg answered. Dinner had been horrible. It was as if they 
had turned back the hands to time to three months earlier. No one 
was talking to anyone. The traffic cleared and he turned onto the 
road.

"Let me guess what happened. You suggested that you have a 
swim so that you could clear your head to think about the problem. 
She felt that you were running away from your problems," Jim 
said.

"Yes."

Shaking his head, Jim said, "You don't understand women, do 
you?"

Laughing, Greg turned the corner and headed towards their 
housing development. He said, "No man understands women."

"You wanted to solve the problem. Of course, since a solution 
wasn't going to come immediately, you wanted some time to 
reflect on it. Am I right?"

"Sure."

"She wanted to talk about the problem and got angry because you 
wanted to drop the subject. Am I right?"

Feeling a little less confident, Greg answered, "Yes."

"You see that's a difference between men and women. Men want 
to figure out what actions to take to correct a situation. Women 
want to discuss their feelings about the situation. You two were 
working at cross purposes and that's why things got out of 
control," Jim said. 

"I don't get it," Greg said glancing over at Jim. The glance lasted 
just a little too long and he had to slam on the brakes to avoid 
hitting the car in front of him. Embarrassed, he said, "Sorry about 
that."

Jim wasn't all that concerned about Greg's driving. He said, 
"Look. There's a fundamental difference between men and 
women."

"You can say that again."

Looking over at Greg with irritation, Jim said, "This is important 
for you to understand. If you don't bother to try, I guarantee you 
that you won't improve your marriage."

"Okay," Greg said. Greg pulled the car over to the side of the road 
and stopped. Once it was parked, he turned to face Jim.

Jim said, "When a man sees a problem, he wants to fix it. If you 
don't fix it, how's it ever to stop being a problem. Right?"

Greg thought about it for a second before he finally answered, 
"Right. So what's the problem with that?"

"There's no problem with that," Jim answered with a smile. He 
added, "It is just not the only way to deal with a problem."

"You can ignore it," Greg said.

"That's true, but there's another way to deal with a problem," Jim 
said. He knew that what he was going to say was going to blow 
Greg out of the water. He added, "I call it the female approach to 
problem solving."

"What?"

"You figure out why the problem bothers you and you change 
yourself so that you aren't bothered by it. If you are successful, 
then it stops being a problem," Jim answered.

Stunned at the twisted logic behind Jim's statement, Greg stared at 
him. It took him a full thirty seconds to generate a reply. "That's 
crazy."

"Not at all. It's a perfectly reasonable solution to a problem. I bet 
you've practiced it yourself," Jim said.

"No way."

Turning so that he was facing Greg, Jim tried to find an example 
that the other man would understand. It came to him and he said, 
"You used to drive a VW Bug, didn't you?"

"Yes, the Lady Bug," Greg answered. Just a simple mention of his 
old car was sufficient to bring a smile to his face.

"You loved that car."

"Sure did."

"It broke down fairly often, didn't it?"

"Well... I guess you could say that," Greg said. He'd spent a lot of 
time fixing up that car so that it would run.

Jim asked, "How would you react if this BMW was as unreliable 
as that old car?"

"I'd be pretty pissed off considering how much I'm paying for it," 
Greg said.

"See, you have two different reactions to the same situation. It was 
okay for the Bug to be unreliable, but it isn't okay for the BMW. 
When the Bug broke down, it was a chance for you to work on it 
and put a little more of yourself into it. It was an inconvenience, 
but not a problem. When the BMW breaks down, it is an 
inconvenience and a problem," Jim said going for the coupe de 
grace.

It took Greg a minute to realize the difference between the two 
cases was how he felt about them. He sat back in his seat and 
stared at the dashboard while shaking his head. Confused, he said, 
"So you are telling me that my wife was looking for some way to 
feel good about what was wrong."

"Exactly," Jim said. He leaned forward and said, "You thought you 
were helping her to solve the problem when you were actually 
preventing her from solving the problem her way. She wanted you 
to help her understand why she was so upset so that she could stop 
being upset. You're over there trying to change the situation."

"What in the hell was I supposed to do?" Greg asked.

"You were supposed to help her explore her feelings," Jim 
answered with a smile.

"What does that mean?"

"You are supposed to ask questions. Things like... How does that 
make you feel? What makes you feel that way? What would you 
like to have happen?"

"Oh, I'm no good at that kind of stuff," Greg said with a definite 
whine in his voice. He knew that the moment the conversation 
headed in that direction, that she'd be asking him the same 
questions. 

 "The rewards are great if you figure out how to do that," Jim said 
glancing down at his watch. He was going to have to explain to his 
wife the delay in getting home. 

"What kind of rewards?"

Jim smiled and said, "It can give you a lot more time to address 
real problems without it being a crisis. A woman can put up with 
adversity much easier than a man once she understands it 
emotionally. She will be happy about things that would drive us 
crazy as long as she knows that it is temporary, that you are 
working on it, and that you are aware of her feelings."

"I'm not sure that I believe that," Greg said. The idea that you 
didn't have to solve a problem was just so bizarre that he didn't 
know what to say.

"Trust me on this," Jim replied with a smile. That had been one of 
the hard lessons for him to learn. He was fortunate that he had 
learned it early in his marriage.

"So what do I do to fix the situation? Last night was pretty 
horrible," Greg said.

"Well, the first thing you have to do is apologize."

The idea that he had to apologize was irritating. It seemed to him 
that it was always up to the man to apologize even when things 
weren't his fault. Greg said, "I didn't do anything wrong."

"Yes, you did. You weren't supporting her the way she needed," 
Jim said looking Greg in the eye. He asked, "What if you were 
trying to solve a problem and she was continually interrupting your 
thoughts?"

"I guess I'd be pretty pissed at her," Greg said.

"Well, that's what you were doing," Jim said.

"Okay, I'll apologize," Greg said feeling as if he was conceding 
something important, but not quite sure what he was giving up.

"Next, you have to ask her how she feels about the situation of the 
previous day," Jim said.

"I'm not supposed to tell her that I love her?" Greg asked.

"You should be doing that at least twice a day no matter what," 
Jim said shaking his head in wonder at the state of most marriages.

"Twice a day?"

"Yes. You should tell her that you love her at least twice a day. 
Don't do it at the same time each day. You don't want it to become 
a habit," Jim answered. It was real easy for the words to become 
part of a meaningless ritual. The same words whipped out while 
kissing his wife goodbye every the morning ended up not being 
heard or felt. 

"Twice," Greg echoed doubtfully. He thought about Jack's advice 
that women needed to hear the words. Jack may have been right, 
but he didn't know the frequency.

"You have to let her know that you are thinking about her all of the 
time and that your thoughts are of love. Surprise her with those 
three magic words when she is least expecting it."

"Sounds like a lot of work for something that she should already 
know," Greg said staring out the windshield of the car. He tapped 
on the steering wheel while thinking about it.

"Look, she deserves to feel like she is the center of your universe. 
If you can manage to do that, she'll make sure that you are the 
center of her universe. Believe me, it is very nice to be the center 
of someone else's universe," Jim said with a knowing grin.

Greg walked into the house carrying a bouquet of flowers. For the 
first time since they had started having their special hour every 
night, he was worried about what he would find at home. He went 
through his normal actions, getting dressed for an evening by the 
pool. Still carrying the flowers, he went to the back door and 
looked out. The kids were seated by the pool, but Sharon was not 
there.

He went to the kitchen and found her putting some cheese cubes on 
a plate. Her posture hinted at the tension in her body. She was 
worried that all of the gains of the past few months were lost. The 
thought of returning to the previous life was just too horrible to 
bear. 

Stepping up behind her, he put an arm around her waist. In a soft 
voice, he said, "I'm sorry for not listening to you yesterday. You 
were trying to understand what was going on and I wasn't 
supporting you."

The tension in her shoulders evaporated on hearing his words. Not 
only was he apologizing, he was letting her know that he 
understood what he had done wrong. That was the best kind of 
apology. She leaned into him and said, "That's okay. Yesterday 
was just kind of stressful."

He moved the bouquet of flowers to where she could see it and 
said, "I brought some flowers."

Accepting the flowers, she held them up to her nose and smelled 
them. Greg took the opportunity and said, "I know I don't say it 
often enough, but I love you very much. I don't know what I'd do 
without you in my life."

The apology and the flowers had already melted her heart. The 
declaration of love lit a fire inside Sharon. She turned and kissed 
him passionately. The flowers were crushed between their bodies 
when she pressed her whole body against his. Her hand slipped 
around to his buttocks. She pulled his lower body against hers and 
rubbed her crotch against his. The temperature in the room rose 
several degrees.

The flowers fell to the floor, forgotten in the sudden flaring of their 
passion. She murmured one word, "Bedroom."

---

Sitting outside by the pool Harry was waiting for his parents to 
come out so that he could discuss the weekend barbecue with 
Ted's parents. Getting irritated at the delay, he looked over at his 
sister and asked, "Where are they?"

"I don't know. Let me see if mom needs some help in the kitchen," 
Cathy said looking towards the house with a worried expression. 
She hadn't made up with her mother from the night before and 
helping in the kitchen would be a good chance to talk. She hoped 
that her father hadn't stopped by the sports bar for a drink. It would 
be horrible if he started doing that again. 

"Okay."

Getting out of her chair, Cathy went to the back door. She opened 
it and stood at the door for a full minute listening to the noises 
coming from inside. Her first thought was that her parents were 
arguing. Her concerns immediately changed when she heard her 
mother shout, "That's it. Fuck me big man."

Shocked, she closed the door and made her way back to the chair 
she had just vacated. Sitting down, she looked at Harry with an 
expression that suggested the world had just come to an end. Her 
voice squeaked when she said, "They're fucking in the kitchen."

"What?" Harry asked rising out of his chair thinking that he had 
misunderstood what she had said.

"They are fucking in the kitchen," Cathy repeated in shock. She 
emphasized the word `fucking' so that there would not be any 
doubt what she was saying. She'd never heard anyone talking like 
her mother. It was the most disturbing thing she had ever heard.

Staring at his sister, Harry asked, "Are you sure? You didn't even 
go in the house."

"Believe me. There's no doubt what they were doing in there. I 
heard them," Cathy said.

"Way to go, Dad," Harry said as he sat down in his chair. He 
smiled over at his sister, but she wasn't smiling.

First there had been the evening when she had encountered them in 
the dining room. Their clothes had been torn and they had 
obviously just finished having sex on the dining room table. Now 
she had heard them doing it in the kitchen. Wasn't there a room in 
the house that was safe? Shaking her head, she said, "I think I'm 
going to be scarred for life by this."

"Oh, lighten up. Once you and Sam start doing the horizontal 
dance, do you really think you're going to ever want it to end?"

"No, but we're young. Old folks shouldn't be losing it like that," 
Cathy said with a look of disgust on her face.

"And one day you're going to be old," Harry said. Hearing that his 
parents were still having sex didn't seem that bad to him. It gave 
him hope that when he was that old, he and Lisa would still be 
going at it. Of course, he wasn't really sure what that would be like 
since they hadn't done it for the first time yet. Still, the 
preliminaries were pretty exciting.

"But..."

"No. Dad's a stud and Mom's a lucky woman," Harry said.

Her mother didn't sound like a lucky woman, she sounded like 
some back alley slut screaming out profanities.  She said, "It was 
disgusting. You didn't hear the noises Mom was making."

"You'll be making those same noises when you and Sam finally do 
it," Harry said dismissing his sister's disgust. 

"No, I'll be a lady and act dignified when we do it."

Harry laughed and said, "Then your first time with Sam will be the 
last time with Sam. Guys don't want ladies in the bedroom."

"You're disgusting," Cathy said looking at her brother.

"No, I'm serious. Maybe the first time you guys do it he'll want it 
to be all romantic and everything, but after that he's going to want 
some good old fashioned no holds barred sex; raw primal sex 
that's entirely physical."

Cathy stared at him in shock. Curious, she asked, "Does Lisa know 
that you want that from her?"

Surprised by the question, Harry was silent for a moment while 
considering his answer. To tell the truth, they had never discussed 
what they wanted from a sexual relationship despite the fact that 
they were clearly moving to having one. Face blank, he answered, 
"I don't know. I just kind of assumed that she'd want the same 
thing."

"She's going to want it to be romantic," Cathy said. Visions of 
losing her virginity in a bed covered with rose petals and 
surrounded by candles flashed through her mind. 

"Oh," Harry said.

Cathy looked over at the pool. Feeling a little dirty from what she 
had overheard, the idea of having a short swim appealed to her. 
She stood up and removed her wrap. While walking to the pool, 
she said, "I'm going to have a little swim."

"Go ahead," Harry said settling into his chair thinking about his 
relationship with Lisa. He had never considered that she might not 
want the same things out of it that he did. Their petting sessions 
were pretty hot and getting hotter each time. She moaned and 
groaned in what he thought was a pretty good way. 

Greg held Sharon in his arms. She was atop him after having 
ridden him to orgasm. There was something bunched up under 
him, but he couldn't quite tell what it was. What ever it was, it was 
a horrible lump and uncomfortable as could be. Sharon opened her 
eyes and said, "That was wonderful."

"Yes, it was," Greg said. 

"Where's my bathing suit?"

The question identified the lump underneath him. He answered, 
"I'm lying on it."

"We better get dressed and go outside. I'm sure the kids are 
wondering why we aren't out there," Sharon said. Despite her 
words, she made no attempt to move. His cock was still in her 
despite having softened considerably. 

"Right," Greg said. He made no attempt to move her off of him. 
He ran his hand over her back.

"We really should get up before they come in to investigate," 
Sharon said. A little purr of satisfaction escaped from her in 
response to the sensations his hand was generating. 

"I love it when you lose control like that," Greg said. Her nipples 
were still hard and pushing against his chest. He ran both hands 
down to cup her ass.

"You weren't exactly under control yourself," Sharon said with a 
satisfied smile. She lifted her head off his shoulder and said, "You 
were an animal."

Looking up at the clock on the microwave oven, it took him a few 
seconds to figure out the time. He said, "I guess our quickie wasn't 
very quick. We've been in here for almost thirty minutes."

Sharon sat up with an expression of horror on her face. Looking at 
the clock, she said, "We had really better get up before one of the 
kids comes in here."

Greg took advantage of the change in position to run a finger over 
her nipples. Pinching one of them he said, "Let's make a quick 
dash to the bedroom."

Biting her lower lip, Sharon thought about it for a second. She 
jumped up and, immediately feeling the absence of his cock in her, 
said, "Last one in the bedroom is on the bottom."

---

Stomach growling, Harry peaked into the kitchen and found that it 
was empty. Looking over his shoulder, he thought to himself that 
Cathy had been putting him on about his parents doing it in the 
kitchen. He looked back into the kitchen. The pair of bathing suits 
on the floor forced him to correct that thought. Grinning to 
himself, he said, "Way to go, Dad."

Cathy asked, "Is it clear?"

"Yes," Harry answered entering the kitchen. He looked around and 
then asked, "Do you have any idea what's for supper? I'm 
hungry."

"I'm not sure that I want to eat in here," Cathy said. The smell of 
sex hung heavy in the air. She stared at the bathing suits on the 
floor. There was another mess on the floor. It took her a minute to 
realize that the mess was the remains of a bouquet of flowers. The 
flowers looked like a horde of barbarians had danced on them.

"I've got ten bucks. Have you got any money?"

"I've got twenty," Cathy answered.

"Let's order a pizza and have them deliver it."
<1st attachment end>


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