Sunday, June 14, 2015

Home alone, day 2...

As my lovely spouse spends her time improving her French, in France of course, I am left to manage the home front. There is not actually too much to manage. One thing is essential and this is not something that I do well. That is, keeping track of the mundane activities and occasional interesting tidbits that I can share with her in answer to the inevitable question, "So, how was your day?" (Or "What did you do today?" Or some other variation.)

Putting her question in context is important.  The question will usually be presented to me immediately after she tells of her adventures at the local market attempting to buy _________ (fill in blank of an essential item you have never had to buy in French). The story will likely be quite entertaining, possibly embarrassingly funny, and end with a cup of tea and a croissant in the neighborhood cafe. My answer will be something like,"I bought a potato at Ralph's to go with my Salmon. I went to Ralph's because Albertson's was closed, I mean permanently closed. But I did get a five dollar coupon for Haggen's, the new store that is taking over the Albertson's facility." Somehow, after hearing her French adventures and sharing my one bit of local news, I'll likely forget to tell her that I skipped Sunday School to chat with a friend from Turkey. And in the moment, I'll certainly forget to tell her of the morning sermon or the passage that Jane shared. Since the passage was about wives submitting to your husbands, perhaps it would be better not coming from me. I'd probably mention the bike ride to Carpinteria, but beyond mentioning that I saw  a seal, a snake, and a squirrel there is not much there to hold her interest. 

And she definitely won't want to hear of the dishes that I finally put away or the ones I need to wash that I think can wait until tomorrow  - or next month. There are some things she just doesn't need to know.

But I will send her the pictures of the friends from Turkey, especially what turned into an impromptu photo shoot of the 19 month old hamming it up for the camera and the 5 year old trying to "gently" pick up a lady bug. The lady bug survived.

So now when she asks, "What did you do today?" I can say, "I did this and this and this. Oh, but you've already read the blog." That's about it. 


No comments: