A hello kiss and hug, dinner is on the stove. Simple everyday conversations, such as how was your day? Some sharing of the days events and office humor take place over dinner. Our children chime in with their day of school and friends, complaints about the cafeteria food and what's his name is such a jerk.

A normal suburban family home any day of the week and then it happens. My husband wants to know our bank balance and he wants to know what bills are due. I offer up the information with a positive voice that all is well. The rattling conversation of the last two hours has now become tense silence radiating from his body. I try to read the signs from his silence. He is frustrated that I don't make more money. He is upset that we have to dip into our savings again for the second time in two months. He is calculating how much money I gave to the church last month.

I'm reading the sign but am I reading it correctly? Am I way off base? Could it be he is absorbing the information and until he does he just has nothing to say?

The lines of communication freeze. I try to tease a smile, but now I have all of these questions running in my head. Does he think of me as a failure? Have I not cut out all necessary expenses? What happened to the communication?

I've heard money fights cause marriages to dissolve. We don't fight. We freeze the communication lines.

Later in the evening the lines thaw and we resume our normal banter. Had I imagined it all?

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