Fleeting argument with the old man

Sometimes, it just doesn't pay to get out of bed in the morning - or, as in the other day, to come home from work in the afternoon. Old Man and I have a very dear friend in the hospital. We have known this kind lady for years and years. She helped us raise our children. She has none of her own, so she considers Old Man and I her children and our children, she thinks of as her grandchildren. And we think of her as mother and grandmother. She suffered a stroke and is in the hospital recovering. Well, we have made a special effort to see her as often as we can. Old Man works shift hours, so he can't see her as often as he would like. But, I, on the other hand, work more reasonable hours and I am able to visit with her most evenings.

The other day, Old Man had the day off. I told him before I left for work that I would stop by the house to get him and the two of us could go and see Aunt Mildred. I told him what time I would be there, I even tried to call him during the day to help him remember. I know how important that is to him. But, I couldn't reach him on his cell phone or our home phone. I was fully confident that his memory would kick in, even though he didn't have the benefit of my reminding him, and he would be ready  to make the half hour trip to the hospital as soon as I arrived at home at 5:30.

I drove into our driveway at 5:28 p.m. Old Man was behind a push mower, mowing a 2 acre yard. He was not finished.

I surveyed the scene: Old Man in ripped jeans and sweaty green tshirt, that I think he got from the ragbin, a straw hat pushed down on his bald head, a bead of sweat dangled from his nose. He stopped mowing when I drove up.  "I'm going to finish this little patch and then I'll shower and dress so we can go" Now, the "little patch" was about the size of a small yard in town. It would have taken him twenty more minutes to finish. I told him never mind, I would see him after I went to see Aunt Mildred. As I drove down the driveway, I looked over my shoulder to see Old Man standing behind the mower looking as though he had lost his best friend.

We were not pleased with each other when I got home. I was upset that he ignored the 5:30 appointment, he was upset because I made up my mind about how things should be done so abrubtly. He really did want to see Aunt Mildred.

I yelled at him, he yelled at me. I explained in a very logical manner how I needed to leave our house at 5:30 so that we could get back home in time to cook dinner. As it was, we were going to eat around 8:00 p.m. - way too late to be healthy. If I had waited for him, we would have been eating supper about 10:00 p.m.

He explained in a less logical manner, that I just don't think like a man.  Well, thank the good Lord that I don't! But, I took the bait. I asked what I would have done differently had I been thinking like a man. To which he answered: "If you had waited for me to shower and dress, we would have gone to see Aunt Mildred and then we would have gone to a restaurant to eat supper."

. . .

Doggone it!!! That isn't a man's thinking. That's a woman's way of reasoning things out and why in the world did I not think of that myself?

. . .

I lost that shouting match. I left to go into the kitchen to cook our supper.



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