Silver Linings?

My husband was born and raised in Lyon, although he moved to the southern coast of France years before we met. The Lyonnais look down their noses a bit at anyone who is not from there. They esteem their food to be the best in the world, seal a deal with a handshake and take pride in their own reserved dignity. People who have known one another for decades still use the formal "vous" and address one another by last name. (Sometimes even married couples speak to each other as Monsieur or Madame). The standard rebuff, if a friendly outsider oversteps the mark and either uses the "tu", or tries to greet with a Gallic kiss, is the query: "Did we perhaps herd pigs together?" 

Aforementioned husband has a story that for him shows how commendably private his Lyonnais peers are wont to be. He takes as example a hypothetical man, with whom he had regular business contacts for many years and they considered one another as friends. Upon meeting him one day the answer to "How are you?" was that the man's wife had died after a long illness. My husband thinks it is laudable and appropriate that no-one knew she was sick.

They are not open to discussing personal details with anyone. 

I live in a different world. I see every stranger as a potential new friend and have found that if we share we can often help each other.

Back to "The Stoic One", who has been a grumpy and unreasonable beast for a week or so. Now, on the Richter Scale of grumpy and unreasonable he is usually somewhere between a five and a six. Recently he has been registering a regular nine. I have the same stresses that he does, as we work at our business and life together, so short shrift and much slamming of doors punctuate our interactions.

Yesterday TSO mentioned that he wanted only soup for dinner, as his stomach was hurting. Alarms went off in my head. Last time he mentioned a stomach pain he was hospitalized for four days with a GI bleed. There have been too many accidents and surgeries that required anti-inflammatories,which did their damage, whilst doing their good. 

I also must admit that it crossed my mind; "Yay, I won't have to make coffee tonight". 

When I have finished my work for the day and driven home, taken care of the dog, made dinner etc. I like to relax at the table. I have a glass of wine. I feel as though I'm done. I hope that TSO will get distracted and not remember the espresso phase of the evening. It seems so much work for an inch and a half of black coffee. Grinding the beans, cleaning out the old residue, filling the water, not too little, not too much, and then waiting. The interminable wait for the bubbling, hissing gurgle that turns into a happy trickle. It's not long enough to be able to do anything else whilst I wait but it prevents me from sitting and relaxing. So, horrible person that I am, I did consider that we had a possible case of a "Silver Linings" on our hands.

I have also been wondering if the stomach ache caused the bad temper or if the opposite might not be true. I have held my tongue on that, for now. A discussion for a day when my opponent (oops, husband), is at full strength.