18 years...
When we were newly weds expecting our first child, I walked in the door from work and the wife is fumbling around trying to put the crip together... I grabbed a beer and sat down on the living room floor to help her and just as a total joke I suggested she needed to be smarter than the crib...(Something my dad told me 1000 times as a kid AS A JOKE!!). well all hell broke loose!! I think I slept on the couch that night...
18 years later, during divorce proceedings, in court, I was fumbling around with my paper work and the comment came from the other side... “You have to be smarter than the papers!” lmao...
I busted out laughing and said “Sharon! Youre still hanging on to that from 18 years ago!! (Mind you both attorneys and referee are sitting their with open mouths...) She said “Yes!!” that made me laugh even harder!!
crib*
My ex-wife was also big about holding onto negative things more than positive things. And, like yours, she'd try to be a smart alec (using history).
In a years-long divorce and custody dispute (after she cheated and left, thank you, Jesus! LOL) in court she'd spew venom based on hearsay, all of which were lies she'd made up out of thin air years prior but said it so often she believed it. While I focused on verifiable information in the here-and-now. I wasted tons of money on two different attorneys, both of which specialized only in tabulating billable hours. LOL
And because the custody battle went on for years after our divorce was final, by the time custody was decided I had fallen in love and married. I was broke from paying attorneys and had to learn how to represent myself (pro se). And through the grace of God, I won custody! As a man! Again, part of that was on focus on presenting verifiable information while my ex kept fuming on old make believe hearsay (even while her attorney was trying to stay focused).
I'll admit, though, part of the fun on the last court date was something my ex-wife said to the judge (she was broke and had to represent herself too, so she had no attorney to keep her in check). While I was making my case that I had a better environment for the kids than my ex, I stated that in the years since my ex left that I've remarried and can provide a two-parent household for the kids; my ex-wife is a single parent because she's unable to find another mate unless he just got out of prison. Reflexively, my ex-wife interjected and gnarled at the judge (a man) that the only reason I marred my new wife is because she's attractive and my ex had heard me call my wife "Gorgeous" like it's her name. LOL The judge, looking at me, chuckled a bit at my ex's expense. LOL
Decades later multiple times per day I still call my wife "Gorgeous" like it's her name. Now that the kids are grown and moved out (thank you Jesus!) I rarely see my ex, maybe once every few years. When I do, if my wife is present I sometimes ask my wife to hang onto me longingly while I call her Gorgeous. LOL