We had invited another couple to come and have dinner with us tonight. You know what it's like the last 30 minutes before dinner guests arrive. There are a million last minute things to be done. Randy was up in his office. I was in the kitchen chopping carrots and talking to my daughter-in-law on the phone when the doorbell rang. Randy came down and answered the door and then went back up to his office. The next thing I knew, one of the women from Church was standing in my kitchen. I quickly hung up, greeted her and asked if she would like to take her coat off. She said yes, she would. I started to think that something was not quite right here, and then it hit me. It was my talk. Her husband had gone home and talked to her about it. I had worried that I might offend one of the men, but in reality I had offended the women.
I explained that I was in the middle of cooking and asked if we could talk while I sauteed the carrots. She agreed. We small- talked about cooking and recipes. I watched her very closely. I noticed each time she swallowed hard and thought, "Here it comes." But after an awkward silence, she would think of another question to ask. I mentioned to her that we were having company for dinner and thought that she would surely get right to the point. She seemed to be having such a difficult time getting started. Finally, I turned off the stove and said, "Why don't we just sit down and visit for a few minutes." We made ourselves comfortable. I swallowed back the urge to say, "So, what's on your mind?" I wanted to patiently wait for her to bring it up, but she seemed not to understand the urgency here, and then (wouldn't you know it), the doorbell rang. Our dinner guests were here, and now it was too late. She would surely excuse herself, and after dinner I would have to drive all the way to her house to find out what was bothering her. But she just sat there while I greeted our guests, explained that Randy was upstairs on the phone, and invited them to sit and visit for a minute. More small talk. Then one of our unsuspecting dinner guests innocently asked, "So, Paula, where's your husband tonight. I cringed. "Oh," she said, "he's upstairs with President Peterson." WHAT?! "Your husband is upstairs?" And I thought to myself, "Well for goodness sake, why didn't you say so? You're not offended? You're not having marital strife that you want to talk to me about?" I burst out laughing. "Wahoo! You're staying for dinner and I still have cooking to do." We put two more place settings on the table and everyone pitched in to finish the dinner preparations. As we sat around the table I told them what I had been thinking. We had a really good laugh. The moral of the story is: Don't take yourself too seriously. No one else does!
2 comments:
Phew! I'm glad you talk went well and that nobody was offended. I forgot your husband was the Stake President now. I remember when he was our Bishop.
You are awesome Judy!
Dave went on and ON about how great your remarks were. And he doesn't do that insincerely, or often either.
He said how he wished I could have heard it. It was just SO fabulous.
He wished he could take notes, but as the sleeping baby holder, it didn't work. But, he told me he had asked you to send him your notes instead.
Kudos to you on a job very well done. I think you are amazing. In fact, you are who I want to be when I grow up.
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