Conversation with My Wife (166)
Multitasking partnerships into dark & light loads since 2000
We chat while folding laundry. Everybody does that, right? Because multitasking, yes? And it’s not at all confusing. The chatting, I mean. Not the laundry. The laundry can be total chaos, sometimes.
ME: (pulling a dryer sheet out of a shirt sleeve) Found it. So I’m thinking of doing a “how we do it” piece on how any romantic relationship is or should be a partnership.¹
DEB: Because that’s how we’ve always done it. (referencing a pair of my workout shorts that she hands me) That goes over there to finish drying, the waistband is always damp.
ME: And Agnes even mentioned it² in her new newsletter. And I want you involved because, y’know, partners. (holding up a sock) This…?
DEB: I’ll take that. (takes sock) So my input on the partnership. Sure. (hands several washed and folded face masks to me) For the car.
ME: Sure. (opens door to garage, which is right next to the laundry room) My car, right? (shifting mental gears abruptly based on the conversation fragments we were just having) I mean, our car, but the one I normally drive?
DEB: Yes, Jackster, put them in Fritzi³. And yes, when I say “my car” I always mean Vickie. It’s fine. Doesn’t detract from the partnership in any way. Check if those are dry.
ME: (checking cargo shorts of mine, then folding them) They’re good.
And all the socks matched! Good laundry day! Wait, crap, no, missing one of the pinky-white socks, nobody move…
¹Nope, nothing to do with the dryer sheet. We shift verbal gears a lot. Just smile and nod and try to keep up. But maybe I should start adding more clues.
²The partnership, not the shorts. Why do you think Agnes would care about my workout shorts? Please try to keep up!
³We have two cars, Fritzi Fit and Vickie Vibe. Sometimes we slip and refer to Fritzi as Freddi, our previous Honda Fit, but we never refer to Vickie as Betsy, our previous Saturn SL1. (Yes, we only have 75% alliteration. Don’t judge.) Also, Deb said the SL1 was sturdy and dependable and somehow “Betsy” just seemed perfect. (Although Vickie is also sturdy and dependable, but to me a “Vickie” seems a bit more high-strung. No offense meant to any Vickie persons out there.)
Copyright ©2020 by Jack Herlocker. All rights reserved, and is that a stray sock under your foot? Other foot. Drat!
