Drag is the perfect word here; it actually feels as if I am dragging.
I believe there must be a vitamin similar to Vitamin D, except that rather than being activated by sunlight, it's spending time with your wife. Before you think I'm going to get all gushy on you, when Nancy and I are together we don't stare at each other cow-eyed and make goo-goo noises all day.
Here's what Nancy talks about when we're together: things I need to do; amused, irritated, or concerned narratives about other people, especially her parents; work-related subjects, complaints about stuff I did do; acknowledgement that the dog is a good dog; acknowledgement of produce from the garden; acknowledgement of completion of a thing I needed to do; personal queries, usually ending in "yet," as in, "Did you --- yet?" savings-draining expenses we need to undertake in the future; the progress of the savings-draining expenses we are undertaking right now; personal destinations - yoga, pedicure, etc; mutual destinations - church, Costco, etc; comments on conditions of weather, mosquitoes, and personal health.
The following represent my range of conversational topics: vague expressions of agreement, "mmm-hmm," "uh-huh," etc; vague expressions of concern and interest, "oh," "wow," etc; queries about supper menus; announcements of personal destinations, the gym, the hardware store, etc; remarking on mutual destinations, church, Costco, etc; queries about Nancy's family; status updates on things I was told to do; apologies for things I was told not to do; promises to do things I need to do but haven't yet; denials of responsibility for minor misfortunes in which I had no part; discussions of money, how much we have, what piles we have it in, how best to allocate it; acknowledgement that the dog is a good dog; acknowledgement of produce from the garden; inarticulate attempts at grand philosophical themes; comments on conditions of weather, mosquitoes, and personal health.
And that's it. The Martin household discourse in a nutshell. Not much to look at.
But how I miss it.
