Crazy plans

While the conversation yesterday morning had a lot to say about the state of our marriage, we talked about some other things too. One piece of news is that Boyfriend 4 is going to get married.

Apparently he met this woman on the Internet. She and her two daughters live 2000 miles or so from where Boyfriend 4 lives right now. She had been living with another guy (not the father of her girls) until he picked up and left all unannounced; so Boyfriend 4 flew out to help her with some of the daily domestic challenges for a week (much as he did for us a few years ago), fell in love and decided to marry her. He has flown back home to pack up his stuff. A month from now she will fly out to see him, they will load up a van, they'll stop here to visit for a few hours on their way out of state, and off they'll go. Their plan, apparently, is to take the girls out of school by offering to home school them instead, and then drive around the country in an RV.

Wife thinks this is crazy, and can find a dozen major flaws in the plan without breaking a sweat. Of course it is crazy. There's no doubt. It shows absolutely no care for the future, no prudence or foresight. Only, ... how much future does Boyfriend 4 really have, at this point? 18-24 months? How much does it matter if he decides to do something crazy on a lark? How long is he really going to have to deal with the consequences?

It may be a little crazier for his blushing bride-to-be, who runs the risk that as soon as she marries him she'll have to start nursing his decline. But for Boyfriend 4 himself, the prospect of leaving the stage on the crest of a new adventure may be just the thing.
____________________

Speaking of crazy plans, Wife is thinking about flying out to see Friend.

Or maybe not. Friend may be out of town on business. But at least she'll see one of Friend's housemates ... whose rich husband will be buying her ticket but will also be out of town on business ... or something like that. (I haven't bothered to ask why, if they are rich, they live with multiple housemates. Let it pass.) She tells me that they said they would pay for her ticket and all her expenses for a week, but she'd be back by the weekend. What did I think?

Well of course I think it is deranged. Surely she knew that before she even asked, so I didn't bother to say it. So here is what I told her:

1. It's a free country and you are an adult, so I can't stop you and won't try. All I will insist on at the most basic level is that if you end up incurring any expenses unexpectedly, you pay for them out of your money and don't expect me to contribute. That sounds callous and shallow, I know, but I really can't stop her so all there is not a lot of point in digging deeper. Call regularly and keep in touch with us so we know you are OK.
2. Watch yourself. Of course that is always good advice to anybody who travels. There are always Bad Guys who prey on confused tourists. But all the more so in this case, watch carefully for anything that seems wrong, because these people have told you so many stories that don't add up. I don't want to get a phone call from you saying, "The good news is that my flight arrived OK and I met up with my friends right away. The bad news is that they want a zillion dollars ransom money in small unmarked bills in a nearby parking lot by midnight tonight."
3. If you get a chance, snap a photo of some of these people on your phone. It would be great to know if they really exist. Does Friend, for example, really have any of the visible burns he has talked about before? For that matter, will you even see any mail addressed to Friend anywhere in the house? This part of the trip could be very educational.

Or not. She nodded at everything I said, but I have no idea what will really happen. My guess, based on things that have happened before, is that they will call her tomorrow morning and cancel the whole trip. But I guess we'll see.