ok, so let me say right off the bat- I dearly love my husband and he is one of the smartest and well read people I know.  That being said, we all have our challenges in life and his is well, one that makes me scratch my head.  He is package opening challenged.  You know how most packages are made to be opened a certain way in order to dispense properly, keep something fresh, or just in an easier way? Well, apparently he doesn’t get it.
My first flag for this disability of his was just after we were married.  We were traveling and I bought a big bag of twizzlers licorice.  I don’t know about you but one thing I am particular about is keeping my licorice soft.  So I specifically buy the bags that have a zipper seal along the side so the licorice will stay fresh and soft for as long as possible.  It was to my complete surprise and shock when the man I had just recently committed my life to had opened the bag at one of the shorter ends- completely ignoring the zipper seal option!

Don’t worry, our marriage survived.  But it was something that I made a point to “teach” him in the ways of licorice bags and how to open them….  sad to say I think it happened a time or two after this but I’m happy to report that I think he’s got it now.

My next example is also licorice related.  He prefers the red vines type, so every once in awhile we’ll buy one of those big tubs.  Now they have a whole new way of keeping them fresh and soft- a lid.  You have to turn the lid so that it locks into place, and also turn it to unlock it to open.  Simple enough right?  After all, aren’t men famously known for being able to unscrew lids for us women?  Well maybe that reputation only goes for taking the lid off and not putting it back on.  For some reason he can’t ever figure out how to get the lid on properly.  And if I put it on right he has a hard time getting it off without just popping it over the grooves.  It’s not brain surgery here…..

This is a man let me remind you that I refer to as a human calculator and can do complex mathematical equations in his head.  He can recall facts and historical data so well I’ve told him time and time again he should be on Jeopardy- he’d win us a lot of money!  (as long as they don’t have a package opening category)  So it’s not like he struggles with common sense most of the time.

The most recent example, because we don’t only open licorice packages at our house believe it or not, is the box of trash bags we recently bought at Costco.  See pictured above…  These boxes come with 2 large rolls of bags inside, so there’s a perforated opening on the front that allows the bags to be pulled out through the opening and unroll making it easy to get each bag.  Simple…….  well I guess he either didn’t notice the perforation marks, hasn’t ever opened one of these boxes, and/or hasn’t ever noticed how we’ve had them opened before in our almost 6 years of marriage, because he chose to open the box by the top.  Which of course resulted in a little more of a struggle to get a bag out.

If you or someone you know is also package opening challenged remember patience and kindness go a long way in dealing with this disability.  But eventually you can make a difference and open a whole new world to them. (literally)  There are others like you, you’re not alone.  And coming from a house of hard licorice and hard to get out of the box trash bags, I feel your pain.