As I ponder the upcoming trip I see 3 possible outcomes: an average, nice uneventful trip; a trip so weighed down with overwrought expectations that it sinks under the waves like a scuttled skiff, doomed by its own optimism; and the most likely possibility: A Trip From Hell, a nightmare, full of death and disaster and great misfortune.
My take is this: I have spent zero time reflecting on the nice trip; I've dabbled in ruining the trip by imagining such wonders that the reality cannot meet the fantasy but haven't overdone it here; mostly, I've managed to FREAK MYSELF OUT! by seeing into the future where terrible things are happening to me.
This has been counterproductive. I admit that it's a natural human tendency to prepare for the worst but fret that it's a natural Seaweed tendency to allow this tendency to run hog wild. My wife doesn't help me in this area - and I don't help her - by imagining all sorts of new possible disasters. "I never thought of THAT," I say, when she shares some monstrous possibility from her inner self. And she'll say: "Are you kidding me? THAT'S what you're worried about?" Between the two of us we manage to imagine a lot of bad stuff while simultaneously reassuring each other about nothing.
She's worried about what to pack and what to wear and riding an elephant. I'm worried about getting murdered and getting robbed and being wedged in a small airplane seat for approximately 807 hours. I worry about The Seat Defender and I don't even know what that is, for chrissake. She thinks she's going to go to the bathroom too much and I think I'm not going to be able to go to the bathroom enough, while conceding that going too much is worse than not going enough. I'll probably have both things happen to me. We listen closely to the people that warn us about the things that can go wrong and barely pay attention to the people who tell us it's going to be a great adventure.
We're taking three suitcases: one for clothes, one for medicines, and one for food.
We're not very smart.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment