Hey Jealousy

Larry and I have been married for ten years. We've pushed past most of the growing pains and grown rather comfortable with each other. There's a level of trust that has been established that allows us to shrug things off that would result in fights for other couples. Some things, at least

We are driving home the other day, and Larry is telling me about the summer workshop he had attended. My husband hates workshops/trainings/staff development with the heat of a thousand white-hot suns, but his attendance at this one was mandatory. There was group discussion at this workshop. At one point during this activity, the woman running the workshop came over and started rubbing Larry's back.

"What?!!!" I interrupted. "Wait a minute--are you telling me that some woman who is not related or married to you just randomly came over and started rubbing your back?"

"Yes," Larry replied. "That is what I am telling you."

"You aren't just saying that because you think I'm not really listening to you?"

"No," my husband responded. "I was really uncomfortable. Wait--what do you mean that you don't really listen to me?"

I was experiencing a sudden urge to find this woman and scratch her eyes out, and I didn't want to scratch a person's eyes out and then hear my husband tell me that he was only joking.

This sudden feeling took me by surprise.

My husband is rather handsome with his blue eyes and curly brown hair and beautiful smile. I certainly can't blame other women for wanting to hang around him. But Larry does not have a wandering eye, except for computer games and large, expensive electronic toys. I don't ever catch him looking at pretty women when we are out in public. I don't find strange phone numbers in his pockets. He does not hang around in strip joints, throwing dollar bills into random g-strings.

It's not like I was going to go challenge this woman for touching my husband. Fighting is messy, especially between women. Most women don't know how to fight. There's usually a lot of flailing about with the eyes closed, and it's the poor bystanders who get hit, clawed, and pulled around by the hair.

So why the sudden bout of jealousy? I have no idea. Hormones?