Wife and I started talking about six-word memoirs this morning, and I asked her if she thought she could summarize her life -- or what is important about her essence -- in six words. At first she wasn't very engaged in the subject, and said, "No, probably not." But I played around with the idea, and then casually added that what is really important about any one of us might be something we don't a lot want to hear. At this she smiled a bit and said, "Oh great. So I guess mine would have to start off, 'Deceitful, conniving bitch ...'" I said absolutely nothing -- I guarantee it! -- but cocked an eyebrow at her. I guess it could have meant either "Are you sure you want to say that?" or else "Go on, how do you finish it?"
After a few minutes she added with decision, "... but good mother." I think my only comment was, "Well, that's six words."
I tried this exercise with myself, too. So far the best I can come up with is "Talks loud, laughs louder, thinks silently." But that's probably too pretentious and therefore will end up missing the mark. I have said before (try here and here for starters) that I'm every bit as capable as anybody else at telling myself comforting stories to make me feel good. This may be one of them.
But Wife's wasn't, for sure. I've got to admit that.
Dear Hosea,
ReplyDeleteGreat job not saying anything. So what do you think the meaning is behind what she said? How did you feel when she said it?
Oh, I think she was just being sardonic. It is kind of a running joke at this point when people accuse Wife of being a bitch, because it has happened so often, from so many different people, over so many years. Now she just smiles wryly and shrugs. And she makes jokes at her own expense about her own bitchiness. So I don't think there was anything more at work than that.
ReplyDelete