Conversations

Toby and I made a quick trip to Lawton last night to exchange the patio chairs which we bought at Lowes for Father’s Day. We had bought a table and four chairs for our new patio (the one that is not finished due to rain). One of the chairs had a crack in the aluminum and needed to be replaced. The drive to Lawton is only about 45 minutes, and it gives us a nice chance to chat and discuss different topics.

Toby brought up the first topic, “ What would you say to selling our place and buying a nice house in town?” Hmm, the more I thought of this, it just made me mad. I was trying to think rationally, but my brain kept shifting over to the irrational side. There are actually some good arguments for moving to town - price of gas, convenience to Wal-Mart and such, a nice house already built and waiting on us to just move in, smaller yard, no fence maintenance, no large animals to tend, etc. On the other hand, we would have neighbors, where would I put my dogs, neighbors…I tried to focus on the positive. Our house is quite small and there is lots of work to be done around here - a finished house sounds pretty good. Then I got quiet with thoughts running amok in my head. Geeze, we had just finished building a 40’x60’ barn/shop for him. It has been our dream to have land, a nice house, a barn, and animals. I went downhill from there. You mean I left my beautiful home in the mountains with huge windows, Saltillo tile, vigas and latias, holly-hocks, my dream house… so that you could be a cowboy, and by golly you are going to be one! Okay, that was a little below the belt. Okay, chill here. If we sold the land and little house with a huge barn, we could afford a really nice place in town. Neighbors? Fifteen years of life in the country? All of the farm equipment laying around? The barn! Nice house! I had gotten pretty quiet with these thoughts and pretty mad, and I said so. Toby realized this conversation was not going well (understatement). It had sowed seeds of discontent. He apologized and said that he was probably just tired, just wanted everything to be finished, and the rain and mud were making him crazy. I accepted his apology, but now I had to bring my thoughts captive and get back to normal (whatever normal is).

Then Toby brought up the next topic of conversation. “I read your brother’s comments on your blog - how he thinks we have such a great marriage…” I replied that Craig does not seem to have many friends who have been married for very long - all have been divorced. We were approaching Lawton by this time. He took the Cache Rd. exit instead of Lee Rd. I mentioned how I really thought Cache Rd. was faster and that I appreciated him taking it. I really hate Lee Rd with all its red-lights and poor business districts. Then I asked Toby what he thought of Craig's thinking our marriage was so great. He said, “Well, I would have agreed until you started telling me how to drive.” I burst out laughing. You would probably have to know Toby and know that he was making fun of me. After 30 years, I know the man well. He can still make me so angry I could spit and then turn around and make me laugh. He continued to entertain me the rest of the evening with dinner at Chilies. The man is always a fun date.