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"That was my second 'okay.' " Sharron said. So I knew we were a little behind schedule.
It works like this: Sharron gives her first "okay" when dinner is almost ready or she's almost ready to go. She gives her second okay as a preliminary to the third okay, which is the final okay, meaning that I should be sitting at the dinner table or ready to head out the door. It's a pretty good system. We actually thought we were going to get out the door on the second okay, (a rarity) but then Sharron remembered that her curling iron might still have been plugged in, so she ran upstairs to check it and we were on to the third. It was nine in the morning. We had hoped to leave at seven. Our destination was the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, but we had a few things to do before we got underway. We were planning on spending the night in Long Beach and going to the Queen Mary the next day, so we had spent the morning packing bags. A one-night stay in any hotel requires that we take three days worth of clothing. At least Sharron and I share our paranoia about not having enough clothes, so we don't think the other person is nuts for overpacking. (We both agree that sharing the same idiosyncrasies is one of the things makes us vastly superior to other couples.) So we packed swimsuits; we filled our overnight bags with Excedrin and allergy medicine; we both packed a plastic bag for dirty clothes, and then we had a short talk about whether one or two bags would be preferable. That's how it got to be nine o'clock. On the third okay, we were out the door and on our way to the gas station. After that we planned to find some place to eat. We needed food to mix with our morning pain relievers, but that meant we needed money, so we needed to go to the ATM before that. The nearest ATM is at the neighborhood Vons. Sharron hates our local Vons for one reason; they have those big fans that blow your hair as you walk in the door. Someday I swear she's going to leap up and rip one right out of the wall. But I understand the problem. It's one of those shared idiosyncrasies I was talking about - we have mutual hair vanity (MHV). We discovered this when we first met at Buffalo Bills at Stateline, Nevada, where we went on rides together. After a rollercoaster ride or a several hundred foot vertical drop, rather than gasping for breath or talking about how cool the ride was, we immediately began combing and fixing our hair. We made it past the hair-blowing obstacle (Sharron called it names) and into the store, where it occurred to us that we could buy the food we needed as well as several other items. "Don't we need soap?" I asked. "I need some stuff for my classroom." "Hold on a minute," I added. "I want to look at the magazines." It's amazing that we even made it as far as the freeway. But somehow, we did, although the car was loaded down with so many sundries that it drove like it was in fourth gear. "Do you remember where we were going?" Sharron asked. "Nope. I have no idea." Turns out (according to the directions I had printed out from MapQuest) we were going to the Aquarium of the Pacific. We got there eventually - walked around, saw some fish. But that's not the point, really. We were together. We were doing what we do. On our way out to the parking lot at the end of the day, Sharron asked if I really wanted to spend the night and go to the Queen Mary the next day. I wasn't all that thrilled about the idea. She mentioned that going home and playing "Lego Star Wars" on the PS2 sounded like a lot of fun. It was like she had read my mind. She also mentioned the hour and a half we had spent ironing and packing that morning, as well as the calls we had made telling people we'd be away. "Oh well," I shrugged. We laughed and headed home. "It's been a great day," Sharron said as we pulled up into the driveway. "It has been," I agreed as the garage door opened. "Happy anniversary." She smiled and squeezed my hand. "Uh, honey," I said as the garage door closed behind us, "Before we play the game, I do have one project I need to look at for a second..." |
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