Thursday, April 10, 2014

We are still married

Yesterday, we found out that our seventeen year old serial killer car is not worth repairing.

We celebrated by eating white flour rolls with apricot jam for breakfast, which has not a single redeemable calorie. Delicious.

Then we drove out to a parking lot to empty the boot of the car. (I've decided to be British today). I was stung with regret that I had not brought a camera to record our taking leave of this car.  It was our last tie with New York City where we bought it.  We bought it because my ankle replacement failed and walking long distances was impossible.  We bought it, because Ed and Dede and family lived in New Jersey, and the one time we visited them via Penn Station was irritating.  We bought it to escape Manhattan. Manhattan sizzles with cultural accumulations, but sometimes it burns the soles of your feet as well.

Anyhow, we took our old fogey chairs, a couple of umbrellas and sun hats and paper clutter and took off for Farmington to pick up some paintings   Tom instructed me how and where to drive: a veritable  monologue of instructions. Maybe, I don't like instructions.  Maybe, I was hungry, but driving down Main Street in Farmington, I lodged this bomb: "Stop telling me how to drive; you're the one who ran a stop sign!"

If I were writing a book on marital communications, I'd say that shout-out was a ball buster. Ach du lieber Himmel!

Tom said, "We'll, you're the one who let that semi spit that iron grate into the front of the car on I-15!"

We burst into laughing.

We are still married.

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for the smile - and congratulations for surviving another day of marriage! If you made the apricot jam then the intake in calories is cancelled by the energy expended. Our bookclub is reading your Memoirs of a Grasshopper this month. If only I hadn't lent mine to my mother - in Canada - who lent it to a friend who moved...
    Debbie Balzotti

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  2. My husband has never had a drivers license but that has not stopped him from telling me how to drive, luckily he also likes loud music in the car so it drowns most of it out!

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  3. Nothing like a little adversity to strengthen the marriage ties:)

    On a different note we have had our share of vehicle write-offs. Our best story involves our youngest daughter who was about three or four at the time and she was bawling when the man came to haul our van, Sammie, away.
    He felt so bad he took off the license plate and gave it to her. Lesson learned, don't give names to things that may die or go away. Maybe it's why they've never had a pet - too traumatic for everyone involved.

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  4. When you guys hurl barbs at one another you end up laughing; when we do that we have a few days like a monk's.

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