© Danna Shirley
He made me laugh . . .
Ron had a
great sense of humor and a very quick wit. He could keep such a straight face
even when he knew I was going to break down in tears. Then he would look at me
soberly and say, “You’re too easy!” J
Of course
you know the husband is never wrong and he’ll be the first one to
tell you that it’s not his fault and even if it is his fault, it’s only because his wife caused it.
When it
came to being wrong, Ron would never admit it, never apologize for it,
and in some way, shape, or form, would find a way to blame me for it! It is the same principle as
him never getting lost; therefore, why should he
stop and ask directions. It’s a man thing.
Occasionally
he would cut an article out of the newspaper and then leave it in the middle of
the junk mail that was to be tossed. (We lost one of his paychecks that way.)
Sometimes he might open important mail and leave it lying around for a week and
then ask me what I did with it. I cringed every time he
started a sentence with, “Where did YOU put . . . whatever?”
I began
to fight back. When he would hand me a VIP (very important paper) to
file, I would say, “Now I’m putting it right here in this folder marked
“Whatever” and I’m putting it in the second file drawer in the office, and the
next time you want me to find it, YOU tell ME where I put it.”
It became
a game with us and eventually we would have a good laugh. One day I found the
perfect cartoon. It hung on the refrigerator for a long time and I would point
to it whenever he said, “Where did YOU
. . .”
It
depicts a husband and wife sitting in their living room. She is reclining
against the arm of the couch with her feet up talking on the telephone and he
is sitting in his easy chair with a down-in-the-mouth look on his face. She is
exclaiming to her friend, “He’s recuperating from having been wrong.” J
Ron was a
shy person but deep down, once you got to know him, he was quite a character.
He did not, however, let too many people see that side of him. He would avoid
contact with anyone, or shall I say anyone with whom I could make contact in his place.
He
conducted his professional life with excellence and was as comfortable with
Admirals as with rednecks. He could converse with each as if he belonged in
that world. However, getting on the phone with a stranger about something
trivial would cause him to balk every time. It was always, “Call them and say .
. .”
“Ro-o-on,
you know they’re going to ask me questions I can’t answer. Why don’t you
just talk to them yourself?”
“No, you
call them!”
“Ro-o-on,
I hate this! I always have to stop and ask you and relay the answer. Please
talk to them yourself. P-l-e-a-s-e.”
“No, you
call them!”
And back
and forth it would go until I picked up the phone and dialed. Sure enough there
were the inevitable questions: what size? how many? aluminum or plastic? and
with each question I would turn to Ron for the answer. When I would try to give
him the phone, he would shake his head and hold up his hand with a definite
‘No!’
Then a Dilbert cartoon came along describing our
lives to a ‘T.’ I think Scott Adams must have lived this situation . . .
The Boss
waylays Dilbert in the hall and tells him to call a vendor and order the third
thing they talked about. Dilbert’s reply, “Okay.
That will save two minutes of your valuable time. When the vendor asks me
dozens of questions should I just guess at the answers? Or would you prefer to
spend an hour giving me enough background so you can avoid a two-minute call?
You know what’s funny? This conversation lasted a minute . . . and there are
two of us.” Then the
Boss says, “Are you
done?” Dilbert looks down at
the note in his hand and replies, “I
think you wrote down your own phone number.”
As I
mentioned, Ron did not like to socialize, especially with
people he didn’t know. He disliked the process that it took to get
acquainted with others and felt very out of place and put on the spot trying to
make small talk.
From the
beginning, I was under strict orders never to accept an invitation as a couple
without asking him first. Sometimes he would attend, sometimes I would go alone.
When he did consent to get together with friends, it was because I begged and
cajoled him. Then I was again under strict orders to make the evening
short and sweet. He would rehearse his ‘exit strategy’ with me and we even got
our dialog down to an art. It was funny how we would run across cartoons
that mimicked our lives. I had several on the refrigerator at any given
time.
Ron
would raise one eyebrow and give me a little wink and I knew exactly what he
meant. It made my day. I wish I had written down everything he said that made
me laugh. I thought I would always remember and I thought he would be here to
make me laugh forever.
LIFE TO CONSIDER . . .
It is my
desire to have a happy marriage and live with a contented husband. My
marriage is for life; therefore I will consider . . .
How can I
keep the joy in our lives? in our marriage?
I will
remember those first days of falling in love and recapture that happiness by .
. .
I will
bring back our honeymoon experience by . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment