Brian & Ellie: July 2007

You can tell a lot about someone by the way they leave for an errand or leave for work and say "good bye". For example, my wife, who is very efficient, will be the first to leave the house.

This is because her work schedule starts earlier in the day than mine, primarily due to the life-balance, technical fact that I'm lazy. So, when she leaves for work in the morning, I may still be preparing for my busy day, typically in a supine position.

At that time, she may sit on the 4-Post, Queen-Sized Preparation Area, next to where I'm still preparing, and lean over to chat with me about the day. Because, I'm typically still in my diligent preparation phase for the day, I'll manage to look at her with only one eye, because the other eye is closed so it can focus on continuing the preparation activities.

So, we chat, and then she kisses me, and says good-bye and that she'll be back at her usual time, which is only 2 or 3 hours after her colleagues leave their offices for the evening. For me, that translates.... um... let me get my calculator....yes ... about 4 or 5 hours after I stop working for the day.

Anyway, you may have drifted from my point. Here is my point. After she makes up her side of the 4-Post, Queen-Sized Preparation Area, she efficiently leaves the room where I was still preparing. But, she actually doesn't leave the house. She says "good-bye", but doesn't leave the house. She just leaves the room, where I've probably fallen soundly into preparation, and she goes downstairs.

This is where, in my Preparation Area #2 of our facility, she may have breakfast.

Because of the differences in our work schedules for the aforementioned reason, I haven't been able to coordinate our schedules to actually see what she's doing outside of Preparation Area #1, where I've rolled to another position of preparation. Regardless, she's probably doing something efficient, charitable, work-related, or frequently, all of the above, as well as, the chores for the next three weeks.

After a half-hour or so, I may hear the downstairs door open, close, then dead-bolted in a very efficient manner.

Anyway, you may have drifted away from my point again. My point is that my wife chooses to efficiently say good bye while she is upstairs. She could have waited till she completed all of the other efficient activities in the morning, then return upstairs, say good-bye, go back downstairs, then leave the house. But that's not very efficient.

I'm not complaining at all, I wouldn't want her to change anything, and, like most everything about her, I admire her efficiency, too.

Besides, probably, I'm back in deep preparation by then.

Brian