Jane in NY: My husband truly suffers from mind-over-matter syndrome. Worse, there’s no way to predict when his mind will suddenly take on a thought and obsess over it until it certainly does matter!
I must preclude this story by saying, my husband is not a drinker of alcohol. He drinks at the occasional party, but getting drunk means getting sick to him and it’s not worth it.
It was a disgustingly hot August evening and he came home from work wilted with heat and exhaustion. Out of nowhere he says something to the effect of: “It was such a bad day, I think I need a drink.”
“A drink?” I asked as if I did comprehend it. After all, it was so rare a request. Sure enough, a “drink” is what he meant. Off he shuffled to his favorite chair while I was, presumably, to fix the drink. OK. I knew we had 7-Up, so it stood to reason that a 7 & 7 or Whiskey and 7-Up would work. Still bewildered, I looked through the liquor cabinet and found, of all things, we didn’t have any liquor. Great.
I thought about this for a second, then decided, he’ll never know the difference, he doesn’t even drink! I promptly fixed him a plain 7-Up in a tumbler and gave it to him.
It wasn’t 5 minutes later that he came stumbling – STUMBLING – out of the living room, holding himself up against the wall. He looked at me with the drugged eyes of the over-imbibed and asked, “My God, what did you put in that drink?” He was completely intoxicated!
“Dear,” I responded, now in a totally different level of bewilderment, “We were out of Alcohol so I gave you a plain 7-Up.”
“Oh,” he responded, and was miraculously able to remove his weight from the wall and walk, quite steadily now, back to his favorite chair. Mind over matter.
Note from Christy Laughing: I realized a long time ago that the ones who have made it through their troubles are the ones to listen to! YOUR stories help us to understand we are not alone, and that we can get through whatever we must, sometimes by Laughing All the Way! If you’re willing to share your funny, uplifting or miraculous stories regarding The Crazy Things We Do or The Crazy Things That Happen, and possibly have it published, we would love to see if we can use it in this series. Submit your story at www.laughingalltheway.net.