|
epitome of incomprehensibility
|
I forgot the day my boyfriend's thesis defense was scheduled. I called him on a Friday evening and it'd happened just that afternoon.
In MY defense, when he called me that day, he led with, "I just came back from a restaurant with my mom..."
After some chatter, his defense (the thesis one) leapt out. I was retelling how my boss had once told a cell phone rep, "You’re wasting my time and I make $75 dollars an hour!" (as if). David said something about how I'd said that before, that I didn't have to JUST chatter about things… his tone slightly annoyed.
The annoyed-ness left me annoyed, plus a little chastened. So I geared my tone to “lightly defensive, yet conciliatory”: "You think I'll be the kind of person who repeats stories. I probably already am."
"Not really, it's just...I asked how you were doing, you can ask how I'm doing."
"But I did! ...I asked you what you had for supper."
Amused: "That's asking me how I'm doing?"
"Yes. Isn't it? That's the intent."
"Oh. Well, you could have asked what else I'd done. I had my thesis defense today."
!!! "How did it go?"
"Quite well! Not excitingly."
"Well well well congratulations!"
But the congratulations didn't spring out right – they couldn’t, after I'd crushed myself with shame, and I ended up sobbing on a torn upholstered chair, saying how I didn't mean to be like that, I had a presentation due, I hadn't had a good appetite all day.
And he rightly objected, because by crying I was making things about me and putting him in the position of having to comfort me. “I don’t mind so much that you forgot the day. Just don’t, don’t freak out about things like this.”
“I’ll try not to.”
But I felt bad because I’d robbed the moment of some of its celebratory sheen.
|
211214
|
