Dear Blake,
I have been happily married (for the most part) to my husband of 40 years. He is a good husband, provider and father. Only one thing about him really bothers me. When he is telling someone a story, he frequently “embellishes” it and changes it to something that’s not actually the truth. What he says doesn’t really matter or hurt anyone, but it still bothers me. It makes me wonder if what he is telling me about something is the correct version or “his” version. Like I said, it is never anything of importance, so I don’t understand why he even does it. I have asked him about it, and he doesn’t really explain. Do you have any idea what would make a person do this?
Signed, Alesha
From Hartford, Connecticut
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Dear Alesha,
The only reason why I think he would regularly embellish an unimportant story is because he either knows the correct version is boring, or he knows he’s an extremely boring storyteller. But to stop him from continuing his irritating habit, you should start doing the exact same thing… to the extreme! Here are some ideas. Come into your house looking and acting terrified and tell your husband there’s a full grown wild lion on your front lawn, when in reality it’s a lost kitten. Or during a close game of a sporting event that he is watching on tv, turn to the Weather Channel to see if there is a hurricane in your neighborhood, after you saw a gust of wind life a couple of leaves off the ground. And this idea might make your point. Call him at work, and in a hysterical voice, tell him while your car was parked on the street, someone hit it and totaled it, but in reality, your car received a nearly undetectable scratch that can be buffed out in matter of seconds. But if none of those work, tell him that you are sorry for constantly exaggerating, because you feel he is the stupidest man you ever met in your life. And if he asks you if that’s an embellishment, tell him that it was, because you forgot to include women too. I hope this helps.
Blake