Early in our marriage, I was mystified by how my wife didn’t know of events in recent history. And I don’t mean it happened the day before yesterday. It was a function of the fact that I read the newspaper regularly and watched at least one national news broadcast almost daily.
I won’t say it’s flipped entirely but it’s definitely changed. She gets up at 7 a.m. to get the news from overnight. I used to do that pretty much until the coronavirus struck. For me, I realized that there was a numbing sameness. The details would differ – 58,000 dead in the US, or 85,000, or 130,000. It’s surging in state X but declining in state Y.
It’s that I can no longer deal with what feels like ephemeral information. Is this part of the state in phase one or phase two? I know the “big-picture” stats, enough to know that just as Florida wanted to ban New Yorkers, now New York wants to keep Floridians out.
So when my wife asks me some drill-down questions, my standard response is “I can look it up.” Can we go inside this type of business? Since the rules will change in two weeks or two months, my brain says, “Don’t care!”
Part of the filtering involves listening to IMPOTUS, who will take both sides of many issues. Are we cutting back on testing? “Yes.” “No, I was kidding.” “I never joke about things like that.” There is no reason to pay attention when he constantly contradicts himself. My wife will ask what did he say about a particular issue. Heck, I don’t even know anymore.
Natal day
I prefer the more traditional ways my wife and I confound each other. It’s a matter of philosophy. She’ll ask me if I want to throw out the toothpaste squeezed to near empty. I’ll toss it AFTER I have replaced it. She’ll throw it out first. But her way, there’s no toothpaste until we get more. Now THAT’S an important issue!
Anyway, she’s having a birthday today. She very wisely is not on Facebook. So her friends contact me, and I convey messages to her because that’s what I do.
Help your wife to have a Happy and Healthy Birthday! In this quagmire that we all are in, you are very lucky to have each other.
My wife has some serious medical conditions and fearfully, follows ALL of the news. I just watch the weather…
Happy Birthday to your wife! I hope you gave her more than toothpaste, though.
Happy Birthday to my wonderful sister-in-love.
Hope she has a glorious day, and that you, Roger, help to celebrate her as much as possible in these uncertain times. She is worth it, as she is a real treasure, a real blessing. Much love to the 3 of us, but special love for the Birthday Girl! š„³šš„°šš
Use a better picture of your wife.
I use what I have. Truth is, neither of us even know the provenance of that photo, which was reason enough to use it. I don’t have many pics of her that I have access to presently, and I HATE the pics I take on my phone.