See, You And Me Have A Better Time Than Most Can Dream

So, we just had Super Tuesday, and boy was it Super!  Ha!  Actually, it wasn't all that Super, but compared to last Tuesday, it was SUBLIME.

You see, last Tuesday wasn't exactly what you might call a banner day for my lovely husband.  Or, if you look at it another way, maybe it was THE banner day for Cody.  See?  It's always a glass half empty or full thing, isn't it?

The day started off innocently enough; Cody got up and went to work and I got up and took the high-maintenance princess dog to her bi-weekly vet appointment.  Around lunchtime, I found myself on the side of town near Cody's office, and called him up to see if he wanted to go on a little lunch date.  He did, and so I drove over and picked him up.  We left in my car, and the important thing to remember here is that in asking him to lunch, I was totally disrupting his normal schedule of getting things done in the most confusing, scrambled, backwards way possible.  It's a very complicated technique that works exclusively for him.

I was hungry and felt like Mexican, so we headed to my number one favorite place in town.  Just as we were pulling into the turn lane in front of the restaurant, we heard the unmistakable "flap, flap, flap" sound that can only mean a flat tire.  I looked at Cody and remarked that it was a good thing he was already with me; otherwise he would have been receiving a phone call right about then.  We parked, ascertained that the tire had some large metal pokey thing sticking out of it, thought we'd try to make it to the tire repair place without changing to the spare, and went in to eat lunch.  After lunch and a successful trip to the tire shop, we settled into the red plastic waiting room chairs to...well...wait. 

I, quickly bored with out-of-date car magazines (I like my car specs CURRENT, you know), decided to play on the Internet with my phone, and after a few minutes of that, decided to be a good wife and check Cody's work email to make sure his answering service hadn't scheduled appointments over lunch that he didn't know about.  The very first email on the page was from the answering service so I clicked on it and read the following:  EMERGENCY, CALLER STATES THAT OFFICE DOOR IS UNLOCKED AND THERE ARE PATIENTS INSIDE OFFICE WAITING WITH NO STAFF MEMBERS TO ASSIST.

I sucked in my breath and sat back, trying to quickly digest what such a message would mean to Cody, who was currently sitting next to me, blissfully reading an article about the newest thing in 2002 trucks, stuck at the tire repair shop with no escape. 

"Ummm..." I said aloud.  Cody continued reading.  "Uhhh...Code?" I tried again.

"Yeah?" came the absentminded answer; he was still looking at the magazine.

"Well, I think, maybe, that your office door....do you think you locked it?  For sure?"  I've got his full attention now, and I can see in his eyes that he's not sure if he locked the door; he's never been sure his entire life if he's locked any door.

"Yeah, I think I locked it - why?"  He looks panicky.

"Well, your answering service emailed you and said it was unlocked and there are patients inside and they are sitting there and no one is there to help them, and actually, what they said was that the wife of the doctor who shares that office space is the one who called them to let them know because she came up there to get a chart and found it that way....ummmm...." I trailed off. 

Cody has jumped out of his chair; he's looking wild-eyed and frantic.  I tell him he should call the other doctor's wife, and maybe the other doctor as well, because as we've been talking he's received three new messages from his answering service, all detailing the unlocked and unmanned state of the office.  Cody grabs his phone and runs outside to make calls.  I sit inside, silently willing the tire people to finish quickly.  Thankfully they do finish up in the next five minutes and we race back to Cody's office where he jumps out of the car to try and do some damage control.  After receiving assurances that no, there is REALLY NOTHING I can do, please stop asking, I leave to go home and research available office space online.

A few hours later, after the work day is over, I call Cody to see how things turned out.  He's surprisingly upbeat about the situation, telling me that nothing was out of place, and that there really weren't all that many patients in there; he thought it was all going to be okay.  He segues into a story about "the craziest patient he's ever had", and regales me with a story he apparently thinks I will find hilarious.  Here's the story: 

Cody got a new patient, and boy is she crazy!  I mean, she is the kind of crazy that you can't ignore; it radiates around her like a force field, and she's just the type of person you know will have all sorts of weird circumstances at all time.  I mean, take today!  She comes in for her appointment, and has her friend drop her off.  Cody tells her that the first appointment won't take that long, and does she maybe want to have her friend wait?  She says no, her friend isn't really a friend but rather someone doing a favor and won't wait on her regardless of the time.  He asks how she'll get home and she says she doesn't know.  Yeah!  Crazy!  So then the appointment is over, and he sees some more patients, and she's just waiting in the waiting room.  Time goes by, and pretty soon it's the end of the day and she's still there.  She has no way of getting home, nor any plans to make a way to get home.  So, Cody decides what would be best would be to drive her home.  Yes, that's clearly a good idea, so that's what he does, he drives the crazy lady home, just him and her in the car together, all the way to the other side of town.  Yep, that's PRETTY CRAZY, CODE.

I am nonplussed by the story.  I ask him what in the world made him think that was a good idea.  He says, in his typical, good-hearted way, that it seemed like the right thing to do.  I say yes, if all things were perfect and we lived in RainbowWorld that would be the right thing to do.  But since we don't, it was probably more of a GET SUED AND LOSE YOUR LICENSE thing to do.  He doesn't understand why I am concerned about the decision.  I ask him not to tell anyone else what he's done just yet, because they will most certainly be more concerned than me.  I get back online to start researching new careers for Cody.

About an hour later I am getting ready to meet a friend for a movie.  Cody is still at work, and I see that high-maintenance princess dog's water dish is empty.  I turn on the tap to fill it up, and....no water.  This is strange, and so I try the bathroom sink.  No dice.  I try to flush a toilet.  Nothing.  I go to the garage to see if I can figure out what's going on (note: this is ridiculous because why would I be able to ascertain anything by looking in the garage?  oh, on this model of water tank, when the valve is pointing to that number, well, that means the pressure's all wrong, and the meter's not reading right...yeah) and the hot water heater is making a really weird noise.  I call Cody, and I'm annoyed.  I mean, seriously, what is going on?  I ask him if he's got any idea why we've suddenly got no water, and it's like magic - I can somehow see, over the phone, the exact face he's making, and it's the face that means OH NO I SCREWED UP.  He doesn't even have to say it, I know he forgot to pay the water bill.  He confirms this, and I can't think of a single thing to say.  So I say okay, and goodbye, and get in my car so that I can make it to the movie on time.

As I'm driving to the movie, I experience the weirdest mix of emotions I've ever felt.  On the one hand, I'm frustrated.  And I'm thinking I have every right to be frustrated.  I mean, seriously, who leaves their office unlocked and unattended for over an hour, drives an insane patient home alone, and then forgets to pay the water bill, effectively cutting off one of the few things actually necessary for survival, all in one day?  On the other hand, I'm thinking the same exact thing, but suddenly I can hardly keep myself from giggling.  Who does that?  Cody does that.  My Cody does that.  And all at once, it's like the floodgates open and I'm sitting in my car at a stoplight, laughing out loud and thinking about how much I love that guy.  Because seriously, are any of those things REALLY that big of a deal?  The office thing could have been bad, but nothing happened; the crazy lady thing could still turn out to be bad, but we can get her to sign something and mitigate that situation, and the water?  I mean, Cody could be a multi-billionaire and we would still get our water turned off.  He just forgets stuff; he always has and he always will.  If I'm going to get mad about not having water for a night every once in a while, or maybe dining by candlelight once or twice, then I better be prepared to waste a lot of time being unnecessarily angry.

The more I thought about it the more I couldn't stop picturing Cody as this hapless cartoon character, stumbling through life, being a good guy, making jokes, and somehow always having things work out in the end.  He's such a great guy - full of love and life and laughter - and I wouldn't trade any of those things for the world.

Especially not for one extra night of water.  I mean, let's be serious.  Cody totally gift-wrapped me a golden excuse for why I hadn't showered the next day.  Normally I have to make stuff up.

Comments

[Chiada]

This story made me chuckle and smile. Yeah, anytime I'm frusted with Hub-E's antics and I wonder why the heck I ever said yes all those years ago, I think to myself, "you know, nobody's perfect. If it's not one flaw, it's another. And really, at least he's not a sports-aholic, and there all those other good points about him." And then I just realize that life is actually pretty darn good and yes, I can picture us together being old and grey.

[Dory]

I'm just like Code and Tom's just like you! At least in the spazoid/fixer-upper roles! Funny!

[Suebob]

I am glad you are okay with it. I had a relationship with someone like that and...I don't anymore. I decided I would rather be alone than have all that tension all the time.

[elise]

I think some people are just kinda meant for each other. That's the only way I can explain it :)

[alyndabear]

Oh bless ... frustrating, yes - but that's 'just how you guys roll'. :P

[tiff]

love this title first of all...and so glad you're so in love with cody that all that crazy stuff just makes you laugh. And I'm always looking for excuses not to shower, so awesome. Maybe I'll stop paying the water bill too!

[Andrea]

That is so cute. Your husband sounds like a current day Mr Magoo. :D Don't worry my husband is that spacey too!

[Tilly]

This is like my favorite story ever.

[Cassie]

I love this story! It made me smile. And laugh. A LOT. You and Cody just seem meant for each other...You balance each other out so nicely.

[Nathan]

Good post!

[Laurel]

Super. You two are lucky to have each other!

[-R-]

I love that. I hope my husband can laugh at my craziness and that he will learn to laugh at my consistent problem of printing out directions to the wrong location.

[janet]

I think is the untold story of marriage. I struggle with it daily, but instead of Cody's things, just insert "touching raw chicken and then EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE KITCHEN before sorta kinda washing hands just with water" and "emailing one coworker a really mean insult about another coworker and not realizing you have cc'd the BIG BOSS" and "don't notice the car is leaking water so the engine burns out on the middle of the giant highway and you are out $7,000."

[Operation Pink Herring]

What an awesome story. I'd be so pissed, but that's why I just make sure I do all the bill-paying and accounting myself!

[Julie]

This was such a great post.

Cody reminds me a lot of my Tim, and how I really do need to laugh more about the things he does that seem monumental at the time.

:)

[Blog Starr]

Great story....it's been BlogStarred.

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