Posted by on Oct 13, 2015 | 15 comments

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Well, I’ve been thinkin’.

Sometimes when we have company, I catch a funny look on mama’s face when no one is looking and I have deduced (whatever that means) that something has just happened that made her wince and then she comes back to normal and keeps it to herself until she’s alone with papa.

Mama says it’s no fun to be at a gathering where couples of any kind or even friends or family make digs at or tease one another or bicker over private peeves (whatever they are!) in front of everyone, and even when it’s subtle, mama spots it pretty quickly.

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She was on a sailboat once with two other couples and one of the wives always answered for her husband as in Does everyone want some potato chips with their drinks and Wifey says, “Oh, he never touches potato chips” or when mama asked him if he wanted some olives and Wifey piped up “Oh, no, he doesn’t want any olives”—this, without even asking him and poor guy, he just sat there and looked miserable, trying to answer.

Well, okay, it takes two to tango. But around here if the person about whom you are speaking is right next to you, you don’t say “he” or in my case “she”, you say papa or Loulou when you talk right in front of us. Most people don’t do that but what the heck—it’s just that little civilities seem to be disappearing, as in “Loulou, would you like (read: need!) to go outside now?  Or Loulou, thank you for keeping my leg so warm last night.” And around others, none of our laundry is hung out, clean or dirty!

Privacy and personal choice may be words of the past one day…

Hey, I still have them in my vocabulary. I’m choosing to snooze in a very private place!

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