The Upside Down

~ Geoff Stamper

My wife and I have open lines of communication. I eavesdrop on her phone conversations and she reads my Blog. But we have trouble getting on the same wavelength. On October 7, 2021, she read about the ketchup prank our granddaughter Zofia played on me and asked if this actually happened and if so, was it a long time ago. I wondered where she had been because the ketchup stains were the talk of the household that very week. And why did she think I would make up something so innocuous. Yet if I write that my Uncle Hector grew a third head in his armpit, the conversation goes like this:

Mol: Who is Uncle Hector?

Geoff: Surely you remember him. He was the one arrested at our wedding reception for setting fire to the juggler’s car.

Mol: We did not have a juggler at our wedding.

Geoff: Right, Hector set fire to the car at the Bachelor Party but he was arrested at the wedding reception.

Mol: Why didn’t you tell me you had a juggler at the Bachelor Party? I thought we agreed not to keep secrets from each other.

Geoff: I had to sign a confidentiality agreement. Technically we now have to give up our third born son which is why I am breaching the agreement.

Mol: Is Hector the one married to Aunt Mary?

Geoff: Who is Aunt Mary?

Mol: Don’t you remember? She smashed your hand into a plate of ketchup at our wedding reception.

46 thoughts on “The Upside Down”

  5. A year ago I got hearing aids. I preferred the conversations that followed the lines of what I thought I heard. I have to moderate a student panel. Your mother ate what animal? My mother never ate an animal. Oh, she navigated the channel. No, I said I have to moderate a student panel. But you just said she didn’t eat an animal… Ashley’s coming over. What ashtray got tumped over? Do we even have an ashtray? … yeah. You never told me about that that! Why would I? You were there. I was?

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  6. I have to say often people remember different things about the same event. And even they remember the same thing, they interpret them differently. That’s normal. I am not saying that consensus is not normal. LOL.

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  7. Wait, you had me at, “she reads my Blog”. My sister is the only one I know who reads my blog. My husband is singularly uninterested, which is probably a good thing considering some of the things I post about him.

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  9. Haha this is excellent it reminds me of an advert that ran in the UK some years back about a couple having a conversation where he remembers one thing and his wife remembers it differently.

    Him “Oh yes l remember when we first met, you wore that lovely red dress!
    Her “It was blue!”
    Him “We had a great meal in a fancy restaurant and a lovely evening after at yours…
    Her “We had chips and then you had me down a darkened lane!!”

    They were the days eh? Uncle Hector would remember.

    Hey Geoff, I noticed you requested access to the new blog a few days back. I don’t often check that email yet as the blog is still in build mode. Sorry for my later response now.

    You are more than welcome to come on board the small team working with me on the blog creation itself; however, the blog isn’t yet live. It is being constructed, and new features are being added and tweaked weekly.

    Hence, the ‘reader’ ‘s initial role is to observe and comment on the flow of navigation, structure, content, and how well the administration looks visually. There is current and archived content to view anyway also. But if this quiet initial role appeals to you before Earthly Comforts goes to public viewing, you are more than welcome to join the small team. Just let me know how you feel about.

    The blog will be going live sometime in mid-July

    Regards Rory 🙂

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  14. My wife and I occasionally veer off-track when one of us is kinda-sorta-not really paying attention when the other is speaking. For example, I find it now of no value to speak to her when she is working on her computer. Several times we have had conversations while she is logged on, of which she later has no recollection of – ones she actively participated in at the time. She also knows to wait on commercials when I am watching sports – same thing happens – I’ll engage her in conversation and later think she’s talking about the same subject for the first time. And now that we’re getting older…this should be fun…

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  15. I am late getting here. Have they taken your son yet? I have wondered about the utility of those clauses that create liens on children after some time has passed. Especially if the child has grown
    up to be a juggler who works bachelor parties. I have thought about taking those provisions out of my contracts.

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  17. My husband and I had this exact same conversation. Except for the ketchup thing. And neither of us has an Aunt Mary or an Uncle Hector. But he has definitely never told me there was a juggler at his bachelor party. So, basically the exact same conversation.

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