Joyce and I have been married for nearly thirty years, so we've had our share of misunderstandings. In fact, I'd say we're getting pretty darned good at misunderstanding each other. A case in point is a conversation we had this morning while waiting for my commuter train. We were parked facing east just after sunrise. Of course, this time of year the sun rises well north of due east. Anyway, there we were in the parking lot when Joyce pointed to the northeast and said, "That Corolla is beautiful."
I looked to the left and didn't see anything remarkable where she was pointing, but as I scanned further left, there it was: a pretty little late model royal blue Toyota Corolla. I wondered why she was commenting on the car, since in all our 29+ years I've never known her to obsess over anything mechanical (other than to post on the refrigerator a list of things that need fixing around the house).
Just as I was about to ask, "So what do you find so pretty about that car, she volunteered the information: "I love the way the sun's rays stream like that." I looked back at the car and saw no sun shining off it. Fact is, the car was completely in shadow due to the sun hiding behind trees. So here I was working out the geometry problem of how Joyce, in the passenger seat, could be seeing a glint off the Corolla that I couldn't see, when it began to dawn on me that this wasn't a geometry problem at all. Nonetheless, I scanned the angle between the car and the sun in hopes of figuring out how she could be seeing something I was missing, when suddenly I spotted it.
Sunbeams were fanning out in a beautiful display from behind the tree. I asked, "Did you perhaps mean, 'corona'?"
Joyce said, "You know, Doctor Laura would really let you have it for always correcting me like that."
I looked to the left and didn't see anything remarkable where she was pointing, but as I scanned further left, there it was: a pretty little late model royal blue Toyota Corolla. I wondered why she was commenting on the car, since in all our 29+ years I've never known her to obsess over anything mechanical (other than to post on the refrigerator a list of things that need fixing around the house).
Just as I was about to ask, "So what do you find so pretty about that car, she volunteered the information: "I love the way the sun's rays stream like that." I looked back at the car and saw no sun shining off it. Fact is, the car was completely in shadow due to the sun hiding behind trees. So here I was working out the geometry problem of how Joyce, in the passenger seat, could be seeing a glint off the Corolla that I couldn't see, when it began to dawn on me that this wasn't a geometry problem at all. Nonetheless, I scanned the angle between the car and the sun in hopes of figuring out how she could be seeing something I was missing, when suddenly I spotted it.
Sunbeams were fanning out in a beautiful display from behind the tree. I asked, "Did you perhaps mean, 'corona'?"
Joyce said, "You know, Doctor Laura would really let you have it for always correcting me like that."
