A Guy You Can Depend On.

Mark works in HR, managing employee benefits.

I work at the same company in Corporate Communications, writing employee benefits communications.

Together, we're a match made in heaven.

One would think that being married to a co-worker would have its pitfalls and drama, but we've found this isn't the case--at least not for us. We don't mind the fact that our dinner-table conversations often include discussions surrounding benefit plan summaries, print deadlines and whether more people take a lump-sum payment or prefer to receive annuities for their pension benefits.

Really. We don't.

So as you can imagine, the fall's a pretty busy time for us, being that it's benefits open enrollment season.

Oh, and by "pretty busy" I mean totally effing insane.

From August to November, we're working our hardest. And, oddly enough, with nothing but benefits open enrollment on the brains, somehow, SOMEHOW, we always almost forget to enroll ourselves.

Well, not this year. And Sweet Pea, our impending bundle of joy, is why. This year, we will switch out of single coverage and roll into a family plan--which leads me to a topic that's become a source of some tension:

Who will be whose dependent?

This came up a few weeks ago at dinner when I offered to enroll in the family plan and add Mark and the baby as dependents. I thought I was being a considerate wife, offering to do the ugly paperwork. I had no idea that the sheer mention of ME adding HIM as MY dependent would cause such a stir.

"Me? Your dependent? Not hardly," he scoffed. "I'm NOBODY'S dependent."

I sat, dumbstruck for a moment.

"Do you think that being someone's dependent for medical insurance implies that they're somehow inferior to the other person?"

I wanted him to openly admit this ridiculous insinuation.

He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

"I'm nobody's dependent," he repeated with a sly smile.

Personally, I could care less who is whose dependent. I just want to make sure we don't miss the deadline to enroll.

But it just goes to show, no matter how advanced you think your guy is, deep down, they're all part neanderthal.