I checked the flight status when I got up and saw that Primo's flight was no longer arriving at 9:22 but would be in at 9:39 instead. I picked him up a few minutes after the plane landed.
"You don't have to take me to the bus stop," I said. "I brought a book. I will find a coffee shop while you go to the event."
He got in the driver's seat, plugged in the radar detector, and we flew down the highway. At 10:14, we were parking two minutes away from the party HQ where Major Political Figure would be speaking.
"Don't worry," I said. "Surely she would not be at this hour-long even for just ten minutes."
I went to get coffee. Primo ran to the event.
Thirty minutes later, he called me.
"I missed her."
"What?"
"I missed her. She walked out two minutes before I got there."
I was confused. "But the event didn't even start until 10! It was supposed to last an hour!"
"She spoke from 10 until 10:10. Then she left. She must have been driving away just as I was walking in the door."
"But that's so unfair! You went through so much effort to see her!"
"That's how it is with these national people. They throw a bone to the local people, but they don't want to waste time with us. Most of her time will be with the big money people."
And this is the industry you want to join? I wanted to ask.
Friday, April 3, 2015
Thursday, April 2, 2015
In which Primo rearranges everything so he can see a major political figure who will be in town
Primo went to visit Sly and Doris because Doris has been ill - lots of diarrhea (sorry - TMI - but I have to give you some context) and he was really worried that she might not live very long. She is a little bit better - she has not been eating, but some of that is because she just prefers to drink, but no matter what I think of her and Sly, I do not want her to suffer. I just want her to be nice. I want Sly to be nice. I want to have nice in-laws who are happy and who are nice to my husband and do not threaten to disinherit and disown him for not keeping me in line.
Two days after Primo bought his tickets to visit Sly and Doris - a visit he had not planned on making until spring (I know it is spring now but it is October when I am writing this) but made because he was so worried, he discovered that a Major Political Figure whom he really admires - he bought her book and actually read it (he reads voraciously, but not books - I have seen him read only three books since we met - The Gathering Storm, when we were on vacation and he could not get an internet connection, The Kite Runner, when we were on a flight back from Morocco and he could not get an internet connection, and the book written by MPF) and quotes her to me a lot. It's not Michelle Obama, BTW. This woman is actually accomplished. Not Hillary, either. But almost that level.
Dang. I forgot my verb again. Anyhow, after he got the tickets, he discovered that MPF would be in town the morning of his return. He was not supposed to return until the afternoon. He couldn't change his ticket without paying a huge fee. As I am already not happy about the pay cut our household has taken, the idea of paying money to change plane tickets that he had just purchased for a trip I did not even want him to take did not go over well and to his credit, he did not even suggest it.
But then he discovered that he could change his ticket for no fee if there was a seat available less then 24 hours before the flight. The flight he would have to change to leaves the airport super early, which meant he would need to be up at 4 a.m., which is when he sometimes - not infrequently - is going to bed. But he really really wanted to see MPF.
I was not so happy about this because it would mean that instead of picking him up early in the afternoon, I would have to get him early in the morning and I already had plans for the morning. Like, sleeping late and goofing off and maybe going to watch the UT-OU game with some UT alums in the area.
Friday afternoon, I got an email from him. He had gotten on the flight.
And life was getting more complicated for me as a result.
(Primo said wistfully today that it would be nice to be married to someone who puts the spouse's campaign first and I replied that 1. he should have married a trust fund brat from his party if that's what he wanted and 2. I put having health insurance and a roof over our heads ahead of politics.)
He wrote,
I need to ask you for a favor: Please take my sportcoat (the dark blue one that's on the hanger with my tan dress pants) to the airport, and (if I'm on time) I would like you to go to [the event] with me from the airport. MPF will be there for a 10 a.m. event. That's the one I should try to attend because it's in the district.
I rolled my eyes and told him that sure, I would take his jacket but I had no intention of attending the event with him.
"But I get three political events this campaign!" he said. "This could be the last one."
"Not with less than 24 hours' notice," I said.
"That wasn't in the rules before."
"I am changing the rules," I answered.
We agreed that he would drop me at a bus stop on the way to the event and I would just take the bus home.
So I got home from work and found the sportcoat and hung it over the shower curtain rod. Then I did other getting home from work stuff, ate an apple pecan blue cheese salad, and started watching season 2 of Orphan Black.
As Cosima was coughing up blood, the phone rang.
It was Primo.
Could I also bring his shoes? And the argyle tan socks that were not to be found in the sock drawer but instead were in the middle of the could be worn at least once more before washing stack of clothes on his dresser? And that blue tie with the red stripe? And the tan pants?
If he had time, he would change clothes completely, but if he didn't have time, he would just throw the sport coat on with his jeans and button down.
OK OK OK.
And there was no apparent complaining about me from his parents. His dad needs knee replacement surgery. I asked at what point does someone - someone who is 81 years old and in very poor health otherwise - that it does not make sense to have knee replacement surgery.
Then I suggested that Primo might want to get some sleep before catching his early plane. He agreed and I returned to the show.
Two days after Primo bought his tickets to visit Sly and Doris - a visit he had not planned on making until spring (I know it is spring now but it is October when I am writing this) but made because he was so worried, he discovered that a Major Political Figure whom he really admires - he bought her book and actually read it (he reads voraciously, but not books - I have seen him read only three books since we met - The Gathering Storm, when we were on vacation and he could not get an internet connection, The Kite Runner, when we were on a flight back from Morocco and he could not get an internet connection, and the book written by MPF) and quotes her to me a lot. It's not Michelle Obama, BTW. This woman is actually accomplished. Not Hillary, either. But almost that level.
Dang. I forgot my verb again. Anyhow, after he got the tickets, he discovered that MPF would be in town the morning of his return. He was not supposed to return until the afternoon. He couldn't change his ticket without paying a huge fee. As I am already not happy about the pay cut our household has taken, the idea of paying money to change plane tickets that he had just purchased for a trip I did not even want him to take did not go over well and to his credit, he did not even suggest it.
But then he discovered that he could change his ticket for no fee if there was a seat available less then 24 hours before the flight. The flight he would have to change to leaves the airport super early, which meant he would need to be up at 4 a.m., which is when he sometimes - not infrequently - is going to bed. But he really really wanted to see MPF.
I was not so happy about this because it would mean that instead of picking him up early in the afternoon, I would have to get him early in the morning and I already had plans for the morning. Like, sleeping late and goofing off and maybe going to watch the UT-OU game with some UT alums in the area.
Friday afternoon, I got an email from him. He had gotten on the flight.
And life was getting more complicated for me as a result.
(Primo said wistfully today that it would be nice to be married to someone who puts the spouse's campaign first and I replied that 1. he should have married a trust fund brat from his party if that's what he wanted and 2. I put having health insurance and a roof over our heads ahead of politics.)
He wrote,
I need to ask you for a favor: Please take my sportcoat (the dark blue one that's on the hanger with my tan dress pants) to the airport, and (if I'm on time) I would like you to go to [the event] with me from the airport. MPF will be there for a 10 a.m. event. That's the one I should try to attend because it's in the district.
I rolled my eyes and told him that sure, I would take his jacket but I had no intention of attending the event with him.
"But I get three political events this campaign!" he said. "This could be the last one."
"Not with less than 24 hours' notice," I said.
"That wasn't in the rules before."
"I am changing the rules," I answered.
We agreed that he would drop me at a bus stop on the way to the event and I would just take the bus home.
So I got home from work and found the sportcoat and hung it over the shower curtain rod. Then I did other getting home from work stuff, ate an apple pecan blue cheese salad, and started watching season 2 of Orphan Black.
As Cosima was coughing up blood, the phone rang.
It was Primo.
Could I also bring his shoes? And the argyle tan socks that were not to be found in the sock drawer but instead were in the middle of the could be worn at least once more before washing stack of clothes on his dresser? And that blue tie with the red stripe? And the tan pants?
If he had time, he would change clothes completely, but if he didn't have time, he would just throw the sport coat on with his jeans and button down.
OK OK OK.
And there was no apparent complaining about me from his parents. His dad needs knee replacement surgery. I asked at what point does someone - someone who is 81 years old and in very poor health otherwise - that it does not make sense to have knee replacement surgery.
Then I suggested that Primo might want to get some sleep before catching his early plane. He agreed and I returned to the show.
Sunday, March 29, 2015
In which I find yet another reason to hate politics
You guys, I am going to write about the stresses on a marriage that result when the party of the first part quits his perfectly good job and the party of the second party almost passes out from fear and the fighting that ensues - fighting that the party of the first part actually admits is fighting, which he usually does not do about disagreement, and which includes POTSP telling POTFP that if he had quit to go into used car sales instead of politics that there would be some degree of respectability in the whole thing, but I am not going to write about that tonight.
Tonight, I just want to tell you that although I really like the guy who sent this postcard to Primo and this is not about him at all, I am not pleased that anyone is asking Primo for money.
The postcard, which I photographed and have been trying to download but I GIVE UP, says merely,
It is not pushy. It is in writing instead of in person, which makes it easier to decline. As far as asks go, you couldn't find something more tactful.
But I do not want to donate money to anyone. I want them to give money to us.
Tonight, I just want to tell you that although I really like the guy who sent this postcard to Primo and this is not about him at all, I am not pleased that anyone is asking Primo for money.
The postcard, which I photographed and have been trying to download but I GIVE UP, says merely,
Primo,
Could you consider this a request?
It is not pushy. It is in writing instead of in person, which makes it easier to decline. As far as asks go, you couldn't find something more tactful.
But I do not want to donate money to anyone. I want them to give money to us.
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