After describing the dilemma I've endured for almost half a century, I hope anyone who has faced something like it will share their story with me. It will help to know I'm not alone whining about this.
I was born on November 23, 1949, my wife on June 11, 1954. Over our forty-three plus years together, any time age comes up, my wife invariably says I'm five years older. Call me over-sensitive if you must, but even during the five plus months from June 12 until November 22, somehow I remain five years older than her. I'm so accustomed to this mathematical sleight of hand that when she last made her bogus claim in early August, I stopped and did the math. Her chicanery aside, facts are facts. Until November 22, I am seventy-one and she is sixty-seven. Dear reader: Please reassure me after doing the simple subtraction.
If just once I could be four and a half years older or, if my wife accurately stated that subtracting her birth year from mine equals five, perhaps my fragile ego could be temporarily mollified. But I ask you: How much distorted arithmetic must one man endure?
Good morning, Pat. I hope this finds you and your family doing well.
ReplyDeleteBeing in a somewhat similar position, I love this post. Although with a slightly larger gap. At the moment I am 7 years older than my wife. However, in January, and until mid-May, that gap will widen to 8 years. When it does come up in conversation I will, sometimes, point out that the 8 year difference would have meant that when I was 20 ... Well, the math speaks for itself. Or, better that it doesn't. And the difference in the decades sometimes proves to be the larger issue. Especially (and something that I think will be close to your heart) when it comes to the music. The 60's/70's music for me compared to the 80's for my lovely wife. Although there is good music from these years, there is quite a difference in the sound and style and which of us remembers what. It does make for some interesting conversations.
Be well,
Bob
Bob; Thanks, as always, for your comment and ongoing active support of my blog. If every reader were as reliable as you about commenting regularly, I could realize one of my early goals for this blog, i.e. to get a rich cyberspace conversation going with lots of people. However, I'm quite happy with the small cadre of regular commenters like yourself. Final note: Intriguing that the last piece of your comment (re the music of the 80s) is a bit of an extension of the brief conversation we had in class a few days ago.
DeleteYou will always be 5 years older in my mind, no matter what you say. And luckily we like all the same music in spite of our age difference. You are much older, as you know, but your musical tastes are young.
ReplyDeleteHa, dear friend. The answer is: "A lot". LOL Karen is 7 years older than me and I sometimes wonder as RRGRMG what we would have made of each other had we been acquainted at earlier stages in life. Yeech! My bad acne would have been a real turn off, I'm sure. The interesting thing about relative tastes in music is that our respective musical memories, likes and dislikes are very similar. Expect for the fact that she has an almost encyclopedic memory for pop song lyrics from the twenties, thirties and forties owing to her love of those Hollywood biopics about the vaudeville era and early film song and dance icons. It's interesting for me to contemplate that Karen was born in 1941, the same year as Bob Dylan. She definitely has a rock and roll musical sensibility but she has taught me to appreciate pop music artistry as well. Celine Dion is her musical performer touchstone and luckily we've seen her many time here in Las Vegas. But I took her to see Peter Frampton opening for the late B.B. King also here in Vegas. So it all evens out between us. And of course just technically, she is only 6 and 3/4 years older than me since my birthday is in August and hers is in November. : )
ReplyDeleteSteve; Thanks for the comment and also the brief walk through your shared musical history. Peter Frampton opening for BB King? Wonder what the promoter who designed that combo was smoking.
DeleteSo you don't round 50c up to the next dollar?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous; Point well taken. However, the older I get the more I want to hold onto even a few extra months; I'm sticking with 4 1/2 years of difference in our ages, despite your unassailable logic. When it comes to mortality and the finite time we are all given, logic be damned.
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