Every night, my girlfriend wakes me up to tell the exact same joke.

Our anniversary is in two days. We’ve been together twenty years. We were in school when we met, and we got married as soon as we graduated college. We’ve known each other for almost thirty years.<br><br>I love this woman more than I love myself. I’d die for her. Burn for her. Kill for her. There’s no limit to what I’d do to protect her. That’s why, all things considered, it’s so surprising that I’m starting to consider ending it all because of a joke.<br><br>It’s always the same. Every night, without fail. I fall asleep, and she wakes me up about an hour later. I don’t know why she does it. I don’t know *how* she does it. I just know that every night she convinces me that it’s time to get up, and then we have a conversation. It goes like this:<br><br>M: *groan*<br><br>E: Hey. What are you doing?<br><br>M: Sleeping. What are *you* doing?<br><br>E: Trying to figure out what you’re doing. You don’t normally sleep so deep this soon.<br><br>M: Yeah, well. I’m tired. So I’m going to go back to sleep.<br><br>E: Before you do…<br><br>M: Yeah?<br><br>E: Why did the scarecrow win an award?<br><br>M: What?<br><br>E: Why did the scarecrow win an award?<br><br>M: Oh. I don’t know. Why…<br><br>E: Because he was outstanding in his field.<br><br>M: *groan*<br><br>We’ve had that conversation every night for the last ten years. She’s always there. She’s always asking me the same questions, and telling me the same joke. Every night. At the same time. For over a decade.<br><br>I think I’m starting to lose it.