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LOOKING FOR HELP
IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES |
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"Let’s have a fight," I said to my wife one
morning over breakfast.
"Okay," she replied. "When?"
"How about a week from Saturday?"
She took a sip of coffee. "Sounds good. Whom do
you want to have over?"
I shrugged. It didn’t matter who we invited for a
dinner party. It could be family, it could be business associates, or it
could be friends we had known for 20 years. By the end of the night, my
wife would be mad at me and we would have a fight.
The problem, as I see it, is that I have no clue as to why
she invariably finds fault with my performance as host. The problem, as
she sees it, is that I have no clue.
Our last dinner party, a couple of months ago, was a
prime example. I was determined to avoid any hostilities, so I stood by
most of the afternoon and watched her do most of the prep work that is
apparently required to make a dinner party a rousing success.
About every thirty seconds or so, I would politely and
enthusiastically ask if there was anything I could do to help. Since she
was setting the table, arranging flowers and making some weirdo salad (all
tasks for which she had long ago labelled me as incompetent) I knew what
her answer would be.
But I was available, which I thought was important, and in
fact she did send me to the store (twice) for the important role of
obtaining items that she had somehow forgotten during her two tortuous
hours of shopping that morning.
As our guests arrived, I made sure everyone had drinks
(that’s my job) and then happily started the barbecue and, in true Tom
Sawyer tradition, found one of the guests who is a far better barbecuer
than me to actually do the barbecuing (that’s my job).
As always, the party was tons of fun and everyone went home
with their tummies full of good food and their hearts brimming with good
cheer. And as always, my wife was mad at me.
Apparently, the stress level for throwing parties varies from
person to person. For me, it’s zero. For my wife, it’s, shall we say,
quite higher. While she has as good a time as anyone else, there’s
something I don’t understand bubbling right beneath the service.
"I can’t believe you just sat there while Jim
and I cleared all the dishes," she muttered after the last guest
left. "If you want to have a dinner party, you’ve got to help
more."
Naturally, I jumped to my own defense. I had busted my butt
asking her if there was anything I could do to help, and while I admit I
never did end up doing much, at least my heart was in the right place.
And I did do some things, like making certain the
conversation didn’t drag, and I laughed at a lot of not-that-funny
lines, and I was solely responsible for finding a far superior barbecuer.
But I guess that wasn’t enough for Ms. Party Girl.
So we had a little skirmish, and my wife vowed not to have
any more dinner parties unless I was going to help more.
Since she’s said this for the 25 years I’ve known her, I
wasn’t too worried. And sure enough, when I suggested this latest party,
she readily agreed.
"Do you think we can get through this one without you
getting mad at me," I asked.
"Will you try and be some help this time?" she
replied.
I gave it some thought. At the last party, I had asked her if
she needed help about 327 times. She had said no about 323 times.
Obviously, out of those 323, there were about three or four times when she
said no, but she meant yes.
I thought about my chances of guessing right on those three
or four times, thereby turning her resentment into praise.
"I’ll make you proud," I lied. |
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