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Monday, November 26, 2007

Mondays Ain't for the Weak

Crises of Voluminous Magnitude

"Do you vant me to help you pack?" asked my beloved Austrian wife, Dagmar. "I can help you pack."

Eyes glued to the game, I thumbed the "mute" button on the remote. "What?" I replied. "Pack? Where am I going?" I truly hoped that if I was going somewhere, it would be somewhere that would let me sit on the couch in my jammies and watch the game.

"You're goink to leave, I can tell," she said, her voice quivering just a bit. "I vill help you pack. You'll need to take extra tummy pills..."

I looked up at her. "I don't have to go anywhere," I said. I looked at her, standing there in her little gray nightshirt, the one with the kitty-cats on it. Her eyes were tearing up. "Why do you think I'm going somewhere?"

"Because I'm old!" she wailed. "You're going to leave me because I'm old!" She turned and ran into the bedroom. The cat, Fruitloop, who had been, until just a few seconds ago, happily napping on the couch right next to the happily napping me, looked up at me with a "wow, dude" look on his face.

"Hey, fuzzy little buddy, what's the date today?" I asked, scratching him on the head. He didn't answer. I looked around, wondering if we had a calendar. Yep, right there on the wall by the door. Ahhhh... I see.

Dagmar's birthday is this Thursday. Ahhhh...

I hoisted my carcass to an upright position and staggered to the bedroom. I tapped on the door. "Honey? You okay in there?" I opened the door. All I could see was a Dagmar-sized bump under the blankets. "Are you okay, Snookums?"

"You're going to leave me und find a younger vife," she sniffled. "I'm going to be OLD!" I sat on the bed and politely waited for her to continue. She did. "Everyting's moving south. I'm getting saggy. I'm old."

I reassured my beloved bride best I could that aging is a natural process and of course I'm not going to move away and find another wife. We talked for a while about how we're both more comfortable with ourselves than we were when we were young, and how it's nice to be taken seriously. There's a calmness that comes with age that's reassuring and comfortable. She eventually sat up and quit sniffling. "You're right," she said. "There's a certain grace and power in aging. Ve should embrace it rather than fight it." She perked up, crisis over. Everything's back to normal again. "Can you get me a glass of vater?" she asked.

I got up and made my way to the kitchen to get her water. I paused in the bathroom to wash my hands because I'd only washed them 240 times that day and needed to get to 300 by supper time (hey, we all have our demons). As I wiped my hands off on the towel, I met my reflection in the mirror. We stared at each other for a moment, he and I. You know, I'm getting awfully gray in the beard. And those laugh lines are starting to sag a bit. Mister Reflection didn't look nearly as vibrant as I remembered. Is that a hair growing out of my ear? What the...? Mister Reflection there sorta looks kinda pudgy around the edges. This is Not Good.

You know, my birthday's coming up pretty quickly, too. I made a strangled little meeping noise.

"Vhat?" hollered Dagmar from the other room. "Vhat did you say?"

Still staring my reflection down, I hollered, "I said, 'Do you want me to help you pack?'"

.

10 Comments:

Blogger steakbellie said...

thanks for this, I laughed really good as I've been feeling pretty old myself. You guys are vonderful.....
:)

2:20 PM  
Blogger paperback reader said...

Ha! Well done!

This is why you are still married, and I would have gotten divorced for saying, "Baby, of course I'll stick around - I'm too old to have the energy to find that hot young thing. I'll just die inside and dream of other women instead."

7:59 PM  
Blogger The Guv'ner said...

HAHAHA! I love you guys. :) I bet Dagmar's lovely.

Plus I KNEW I liked her. MY BIRTHDAY IS THIS THURSDAY TOO!!!!

This means Dag and I are so much more fabulous than anyone else.

I'm going now to search for gray hair in the mirror. :(

10:12 PM  
Blogger sparrow said...

Haaaaaaaaaa! You two are so damned sweet.

Gives me hope, it does!... for you two anyhow. *wink*

Happy Birthday Dagmar and Guv'ner!

10:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well on behalf of myself, thank you miss Pixie!

Dagmar however, will have the sexier accent.

10:53 AM  
Blogger Chris the Hippie said...

Mr. Bellie -- Why thank you!

Pistols -- Whenever I think of you, I wonder what would happen if they ever came up with bacon-flavored cake. I don't know why.

Guv & Pixie -- You guys make me happy! Oh, if you don't know what we look like, there are photos at http://www.radloffs.net/ if you want. Dagmar's always lovely. Happy b-day Guv!

11:13 AM  
Blogger The Guv'ner said...

Thank you Sir! It will be. If there's cake there's a happy Guv. If there might be a margarita (or three) that makes for an even happier Guv. I might have to take Friday off though...

Happy b'day DAG!

12:11 PM  
Blogger The Lady Who Doesn't Lunch: said...

How lovely you both are!

I don't get too upset about aging. My body is kind of falling apart, but I'm a lot stronger and more sure of myself the older I get.

The sight of one tiny little gray hair can make all of that crumble apart though.

2:36 PM  
Blogger Leonesse said...

HA! I just went through this a few weeks ago and I am not near my birthday. It is happening so fast! Which is why Dagmar is freaking out. One day, you look in the mirror and say "OH SHIT!"

I spent 15 minutes in the facial moisturizer section yesterday. It wasn't pretty. My hatred of shopping combined with a hatred of fussing with myself does not bode well with this aging thing. UGH.

6:35 PM  
Blogger katrocket said...

I've got a birthday coming up in 2 weeks and I'm feeling my age too. And yet, I have no desire to be twenty again - no way.

Happy Birthday to Dagmar, Guvner, and soon Steakbellie...are we all Sagittarians?? Cool.

5:41 AM  

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