chris and i get along. i would hope so, at the very least. sometimes i think that it is much easier to love someone than to like them. luckily, chris and i manage to do both. sometimes i think the liking is made easier by the fact that we are so different.
chris manages to be five minutes early when i breeze in ten minutes late. if a salesperson is rude to us, chris grumbles after the fact while i'm busy asking to speak to the manager. chris is organized; me, i'm a bit more haphazard. and while i consider myself an outgoing person, chris is decidedly shy.
it has taken me time to understand this part of chris's personality. i'm sure he would say that i still don't, really. sure, i have my moments of self-conscious stammering and i can blush when caught unawares. but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, i am not shy. but i am trying to understand.
chris is shy. chris once slammed his finger in the door of my dad's car and didn't tell anyone so as not to be an inconvenience. when room service didn't tidy our hotel room in montreal a few years ago chris very tellingly asserted, "if we get back and they still haven't cleaned our room, i'm going to call the front desk and be irate! or you are going to call and be irate for me!" when we arrived at a b&b in stratford i couldn't understand why chris so desperately needed me to ring the doorbell instead of him- they couldn't even see us, for heaven's sake! but i am trying to understand. and trying, in my own probably misguided way, to help him to be a little less shy.
and so we found ourselves in australia together, sitting on the patio of a cafe in airlie beach, eating breakfast back in march. we had just completed a wonderful three day boat trip through the stunning whitsunday islands and taken in the splendor of the great barrier reef. and now we were back on dry land and i wanted jam for my toast. and i asked chris if he would be so kind as to run inside and ask the waitress for some jam.
from the reaction i received you might have thought i had asked chris to perform a rhythmic gymnastics routine in the nude at the superbowl halftime show. or sit next to his grandmother and watch a montage of movie sex scenes. you would not think that i had asked him to walk ten paces and ask a stranger for a packet of jelly. please, i implored, it would mean a lot to me if you could do this for me, this one thing, please, just this once. the more i tried to talk him into it, the more firmly chris became rooted to his slatted patio chair. but i wasn't giving up that easy- i was a man on a mission. please, i asked again, i would do the same for you. nevermind that i wouldn't think twice about such a thing. poor chris. it would mean a lot to me if you could do this for me, said in that tone that almost says if you really loved me this wouldn't be an issue.
chris got me the jam. i said thank you and i put it on my toast. we finished our breakfast and went on with our lives, more or less intact.
if anyone ever asks me why i'm with chris, i will say it is because even though it went against ever natural instinct in his body, one time in australia he got me jam.
my today, your tomorrow
2 comments:
many of us know brian's motto: "never let the truth get in the way of a good story".
now, it is true that i am shy. i am shy at the oddest of times (fingers crushed in car doors) and in the oddest of ways (fear of ringing a doorbell). however, in regards to the jam incident brian more than once uttered "if you love me you will get me some jam". besides being shy, i am also stubborn. guilt will not bend my will. the jam standoff of 2008 was not so much the result of shyness, but of obstinance.
i eventually conceded.
getting him a tiny pod of jam would get me off the hook from speaking to an assortment of scary people (flight attendants, waiters, sales associates, and 7-11 cashiers). which is why i got the jam.
and because i love him.
"from the reaction i received you might have thought i had asked chris to perform a rhythmic gymnastics routine in the nude at the superbowl halftime show. or sit next to his grandmother and watch a montage of movie sex scenes."
Hilarious.
Hey Chris, something I've learned (Because I am also shy/stubborn in my own insane ways and with a man like Brian who doesn't know the meaning -- Getting him the jam packet did not free you from anything, it only hooked you into fetching from, requesting and inquiring of, and speaking to strangers in the future. He'll use your show of courage against you.
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