Every once in a while a film gains popularity not just for its entertainment value, but also for how it helps us grow. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002, written by Nia Vardalos) has helped me to be a better wife.
The Problem
Early on in my marriage I discovered something about my husband that baffled me. He used Windex to clean non-glass surfaces!
This was so foreign to me. I was raised in a home where we cleaned tables and counters with a dishrag and the Windex was strictly for cleaning windows and mirrors.
My confusion and frustration with his liberal use of Windex was not just because it wasn’t the “right” cleaner for all those jobs. It also seemed to me that using Windex added unnecessary steps.
Getting out the spray-bottle, spritzing it on the surface, and then wiping it off with a paper towel seemed like a lot of fuss to clean a surface that just needed a little wipe-down with a dishrag.
I tried to come to terms with this practice of his, but the conflict was made worse when he decided to try a different brand of glass cleaner to save money. That alternative brand was so heavily scented that I lost all sympathy with his choice to clean everything with glass cleaner.
I dubbed that off-brand, ‘The Death Spray’ and I prohibited my husband from using it in my presence.
Eventually he managed to use up The Death Spray and when he did, in my own way, I actually welcomed the return of good old Windex. We had reached a bit of a truce about this cleaning conflict.
Seeing Clearly
The real breakthrough for me with the Windex issue came when we saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The father in the movie used Windex for everything–including physical ailments. Anytime someone had something wrong, the father urged them to “put some Windex on it.”
Seeing this over-the-top, yet sincere insistence on using Windex put my husband’s use of it in perspective. The movie character went way beyond what my husband ever proposed doing with it!
I mean, my husband was just adding a couple of surfaces to the glass-cleaner’s usage. He wasn’t trying to pass it off as a cure-all!
And so finally, I relaxed more about my husband using Windex to clean non-glass surfaces.
Set-Backs
Since those days we have expanded our repertoire of surface cleaners. We have used all-purpose surface cleaning sprays and antibacterial surface wipes extensively.
In my view, Windex is still best for windows and glass only. And I even got my husband to go along with using the all-purpose sprays instead of Windex on tables and counters!
I thought we had reached a point where he no longer felt the need to use Windex for “inappropriate” cleaning scenarios.
But I was wrong.
Since moving to Texas I have favored the antibacterial wipes over all-purpose spray cleaners, so we don’t have any all-purpose spray cleaner in the house.
So…the other night I asked my husband to wipe down a table and he, by default, reached for the Windex and paper towels.
“But honey, we have the antibacterial surface wipes for that!” I insisted.
He looked at me with that deer-in-headlights look that always means I overreacted.
I paused, remembered the perspective on Windex I gained from watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and then I relented.
So, you see, that movie has made me a better wife! And that is how pop culture saved my marriage.
Jennifer Clark Tinker 