the art of making a decision

I've been married to Mike for almost 5 years now. We have grown in many areas, but one thing that we both (still) suck at, is making decisions. I think we're okay with the big stuff, like deciding where to live and whether or not to get a pet (although this could also be kicked up a notch). But when trying to make the small decisions on a day to day basis, we definitely fall short. Other couples argue over who gets their way, but we argue over just having "a way" or a preference. 

This is how it goes... (I didn't use our names, because regardless of who asks and who answers, this is the typical outcome.)

Q: What should we do for date night tonight?
A: What do you wanna do, babes?
__________

Q: What do you want to eat tonight?
A: Doesn't matter, love. I don't mind.
__________

Q: Do you think I should hang this picture like this or like this?
A: Any way you wanna hang it. 
__________

Q: What movie should we see?
A: Whatever you wanna see, baby. Doesn't matter to me.
__________

Q: What time do you wanna go?
A: What time do you think we should go?

And after all these I could add: "I asked YOU." "But I really don't mind." "Me neither. Just make a decision." "I don't know, babes. Anything." (etc. etc. etc.)

I just told Mike about this post, and he said he is totally able to make a decision. Like last night, when I asked him what he wanted to watch, he said '+The Walking Dead'  (knowing that this isn't really a decision, because I don't do "zombie"). And I pointed this out to him, and said, "You could have said '+The Middle ' or '+Modern Family' or '+Community' or 'Big Bang Theory' or ... those cupcake girls - what's it called again?" And then his eyes lit up for a second.

So now this post is taking an unexpected turn. I was initially going to conclude that we would have to resort to a game of ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS for all our minor decisions in the future. (Although here in Taiwan it goes by "Paper, scissors, stone", and in South Africa we know it as "ching chong cha")

After our brief lunchtime chat, I finally know what I need to do to really find out what Mike's preferences are:  I need to start naming all the options... and not stop after 2. Just keep going, until I see that same spark in his big brown eyes that I just saw when he thought of "+2 Broke Girls". And if that spark doesn't come, maybe he really really really doesn't mind. (I'll test this theory and let you know if it worked). 

Now it's his turn to figure out my "tell".