Emily’s Musings

On Sunday, we went to David’s great-aunt’s 90th birthday bash. Well, it was more like a social in the back yard, but I would like to image it as a “bash” because that’s what I expect when I turn 90 . . .

When we lived in Utah, we lived next door to this great-aunt for five years. It was exciting to see so many relatives, and members of the ward (a.k.a. a Mormon congregation) at this “bash” that we hadn’t seen in over seven years.

David asked me if I happened to talk to this “one” couple, and I said I had. He related the conversation he had with them to me and I thought, “YOU ARE SUCH A MAN. A WOMAN WOULD NEVER OMIT SO MANY DETAILS.”

Couple: “Hey! Where are you guys now?”

David: “We’re staying with my parents right now.”

Couple: “Oh . . . . .”

END OF CONVERSATION.

The ultimate “silencer.” Nothing says “I’m a lame” more than “I am a grown man, with a pregnant wife and a toddler, and two dogs, LIVING AT MY PARENTS HOUSE.” Can you blame the guy? He has no idea where we have been for the last seven years. How is he to know that we are “in-between” places and we choose to live in Utah to spend some time with our families this summer while I have this baby?

A woman would have said, “My husband is half way through medical school and he is studying for a major exam right now. We move to Louisiana in August so he can start working in in a hospital as a student doctor and since his clinical rotations don’t start until mid-August, we decided to spend the summer in Utah (instead of anywhere else while he studies for this exam) to see family and share the birth of our child with them. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN ONE VERY LONG SENTENCE LIKE THAT.