LOL – communication FAIL

here’s a short and sweet story from the LOL list.

my parents have been married for almost 37 years, and as you might imagine, they often understand each other’s thoughts without needing to express them. like many couples who’ve been together for decades, they’ve developed an intuitive sense for each other that surpasses words.

and then there are the times that words seem to be the barrier to communication.

several years ago my mother was packing some clothes into a garment bag and realized she could not hold the bag and reach the zipper to close it at the same time. so she did what any wife would do in that situation. no, not hang it from a door frame…borrow your husband’s arm, of course!

“honey, would you please hold this?” she asked, and my dad reached out to oblige.

“high,” my mother instructed, trying to straighten out the zipper at the bottom of the bag so it would slide upward. she was surprised when he didn’t lift the bag higher, and so mom said again, “high!” still, the bag remained at the same level.

what changed was the expression on my father’s face: from slightly confused to completely bewildered. still bent down and fighting with the zipper, my mom was becoming impatient. “HIGH!!” she insisted more emphatically, thinking he must not have heard the simple request. when there was still no upward shift of the garment bag, mom looked up to see an obviously baffled man.

dad, realizing that she was not talking to herself and he had no choice but to respond, said simply, “hi.”