Would you like a bookmark with that?
There are a few things that terrify me:
Number one is always snakes.
Number two is failure.
Number three is becoming a suburban mommy who wears elastic waist pants with a matching sweatshirt that has pictures of Adirondack chairs painted on it - complete with a dickie underneath. And a perm. We can't forget the perm.
Number four is becoming one of those couples.
I'd rather get divorced (um, if I was actually married) than end up like one of those couples I see every time I go out for dinner. So, if you read this, and you are one of those couples, explain to me why you live like this...
The other night I was out for dinner with my girlfriend. She was late for dinner so I was spying on all the other people at the restaurant. There were only three or four tables of people and not much to look at until I saw them - my fear of my future.
He was a handsome older man. Maybe in his mid-50s. He had a lovely mess of charcoal grey hair and a kind face. He was looking around the restaurant, too. He seemed very inquisitive, very interested in his surroundings. Every few seconds, he'd look across the table to his wife, look at her kindly, and then start looking around the restaurant again.
The wife.
She's another story.
She looked older than her husband and it was harder to get a really good look at her - because she was reading at the dinnertable. Five minutes, 10 minutes passed and the whole time her nose was in her book.
The server came and asked if the couple wanted tea or coffee.
They did. The server left and returned with two teapots.
"Surely," I thought, "she's going to put her book down and talk with her husband."
The woman looked at her steeping tea, poured a little into her cup, sipped it, and went back to her book, leaving her husband to stare into his drink and then start looking around the room again.
Why?
Why bother going for dinner - getting dressed, leaving the house, using the gas in your car, going over a menu, eating a taco salad, or a filet mignon, or blackened salmon, and paying a bill plus the tip - if you're not actually going to converse the entire time?
Every time I've ever gone out for dinner I've seen one of these couples. The man looks left. The woman looks right. The man stares into his French onion soup. The woman spins her wedding ring around her finger. The man talks nonstop on his cell. The woman picks at her manicured nails, scraping off the last few flecks of Candy Apple red polish. The man pushes rice around his plate. The woman picks something out of her teeth. And so it goes. And so it goes. And so it goes.
I'm terrified of becoming one of these couples. I assume their relationship, their partnership, their marriage, has totally broken down and now they're just going through the motions of happiness.
I've watched many couples sit, sip and dine in silence but watching someone read a book during a dinner out was a new one for me.
Riddle me this: Is it better to dine alone or dine with a reader?
Oooh I know! Neither of the above. Find someone who wants to share creme brulee topped with ripe raspberries with you. And talk to you.
Wow. Talk about a hot concept: Dinner conversation.
Number one is always snakes.
Number two is failure.
Number three is becoming a suburban mommy who wears elastic waist pants with a matching sweatshirt that has pictures of Adirondack chairs painted on it - complete with a dickie underneath. And a perm. We can't forget the perm.
Number four is becoming one of those couples.
I'd rather get divorced (um, if I was actually married) than end up like one of those couples I see every time I go out for dinner. So, if you read this, and you are one of those couples, explain to me why you live like this...
The other night I was out for dinner with my girlfriend. She was late for dinner so I was spying on all the other people at the restaurant. There were only three or four tables of people and not much to look at until I saw them - my fear of my future.
He was a handsome older man. Maybe in his mid-50s. He had a lovely mess of charcoal grey hair and a kind face. He was looking around the restaurant, too. He seemed very inquisitive, very interested in his surroundings. Every few seconds, he'd look across the table to his wife, look at her kindly, and then start looking around the restaurant again.
The wife.
She's another story.
She looked older than her husband and it was harder to get a really good look at her - because she was reading at the dinnertable. Five minutes, 10 minutes passed and the whole time her nose was in her book.
The server came and asked if the couple wanted tea or coffee.
They did. The server left and returned with two teapots.
"Surely," I thought, "she's going to put her book down and talk with her husband."
The woman looked at her steeping tea, poured a little into her cup, sipped it, and went back to her book, leaving her husband to stare into his drink and then start looking around the room again.
Why?
Why bother going for dinner - getting dressed, leaving the house, using the gas in your car, going over a menu, eating a taco salad, or a filet mignon, or blackened salmon, and paying a bill plus the tip - if you're not actually going to converse the entire time?
Every time I've ever gone out for dinner I've seen one of these couples. The man looks left. The woman looks right. The man stares into his French onion soup. The woman spins her wedding ring around her finger. The man talks nonstop on his cell. The woman picks at her manicured nails, scraping off the last few flecks of Candy Apple red polish. The man pushes rice around his plate. The woman picks something out of her teeth. And so it goes. And so it goes. And so it goes.
I'm terrified of becoming one of these couples. I assume their relationship, their partnership, their marriage, has totally broken down and now they're just going through the motions of happiness.
I've watched many couples sit, sip and dine in silence but watching someone read a book during a dinner out was a new one for me.
Riddle me this: Is it better to dine alone or dine with a reader?
Oooh I know! Neither of the above. Find someone who wants to share creme brulee topped with ripe raspberries with you. And talk to you.
Wow. Talk about a hot concept: Dinner conversation.
3 Comments:
I'm not sure about the couple you're describing; but it has been said that a good measure of comfortable companionship (also part of a mature partnership) is the ease you feel in sharing the silences.
I totally agree about the silence.
It's nice being in a relationship where you don't have to feel like you must fill the air 24/7 with mindless chatter.
But when you're out for a two-hour dinner don't you think you'd at least like to say one whole sentence to your lovah?
How about: How's your steak? My salmon is really good?
I've honestly seen many, many couples who don't say a single word during dinner - except to the waiter.
You're right, a dinner out to us is an event, a special time. They probably do it often enough that it's not such a big deal.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home