I send a text message. It starts out simply. I say “Earl”.
He says, “What?”
I say, “Earl, why don’t we live in Texas?”
Now, it’s rare that I call my husband Earl. His name is Earl and like me, he shares the name of his father but he’s not a junior. It’s one of the many things we have in common. Well, that and our marriage license. But I don’t call him “Earl” because that’s his name. I have my favorite nickname that I call him and it makes me feel good. But I’ve had a beer or two so I call him “Earl”. Formalities and all that. Back to the question. “Earl, why don’t we live in Texas?”
He always has the same answer, “because we have good jobs in Upstate New York. We do quite well in Upstate New York.”
“I could have the same job in Texas but they wouldn’t let us be married.”
“That won’t be a factor much longer”, he always replies as he’s always the optimist. That is one of my biggest worries. When you’ve married your best friend for real, you want everyone to recognize that realness forever.
This is how it goes. I’m in Texas on business and have had a couple of beers with the guys. I played golf tonight. I suck at golf. I’m horrible. As I told my friend Matt, I could push a Vega with my cyclist legs, but if there’s no windmill or waterfall to putt-putt through, I suck at golf. Apparently my legs dance around. I don’t feel embarrassed because I’m sharing a pitcher of beer with a co-worker who I’d call a friend. He’s a good guy.
Even though I don’t “get” Texas, I like the vibe of working down here. Good people. Totally different than the office I work at home, but the vibe is still good and they believe in what we’re doing. That’s important to me.
I say, “Earl”.
He says, “What?”.
I say, “Earl, but I’m tired of the snow.” I don’t whine. I hate whining. Whining makes me insane and happy that I’m an introvert that shuns the company of those that whine.
“Hold on until I retire, then we’ll make our move.”
I have a pretty sweet gig. It’s a lot of work, I occasionally bitch about it, but when I meet with others in the group, as we are all over the country, I’m reminded that I work with good people. I need that reminder. It energizes me. A lot. I could skip the beer (but I don’t) with them, but I enjoy working with them. Traveling to the next office over (150 miles away) or to the Texas office (1000 miles away), it doesn’t matter, it’s the group camaraderie that isn’t completely replicated over the telephonic conference calls. Contact with your peers is good. I need to find a way to do it more often.
There’s a lot of nifty things around this office in Texas. I don’t know if it’d be as enjoyable if we lived down here but I’m willing to take that gamble. It was 102F when I landed yesterday. They’re enjoying a cool spell at 85F. They say it’s fall-like at home in Upstate New York. I don’t know if I’m ready for autumn yet.
I might have to convince someone that I need to come down here one more time before the end of the year, just to make sure all of our ducks are in a row on this new big project I’m a part of at work. I wonder if they’ll buy it.
I text again: “Earl”.
He says, “Go to bed, sweetheart, I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
I say, “I love you” and then I call it a night.
I shall include a photo from “I Dream of Jeannie” for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Actually, when I golf I think of a scene from the movie “I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later”, but I can’t find a screen cap so this one will do.
