Sunday, July 10, 2011

December/June or Failure to Launch?


I was talking to a couple the other day. I couldn't quite get a handle on the nature of their relationship.

At first I thought it was a man and his mother.

But when I mentioned this to my daughter, who had been with me, she thought the woman was too young to be his mother. I thought she was too old to be his wife.

Here are the facts of the case:

They moved into their house a few years ago.

As far as I know it is just the two of them.

He looked to be around 40. Fit. Full head of auburn hair and a neatly groomed beard and 'stache.

She, I would have guessed, looked closer to 60. Short hair. Grey. Bit of pudge.

As we talked, my kids got mentioned a couple times (as in, 'yeah, I don't have much time for landscaping what with raising 6 kids', or 'yeah, our pool keeps pretty busy what with all our kids'. That kind of thing). But neither of them mentioned kids at all. I was hoping for her to say something along the lines of, 'when my other kids gets together with my son here...'. Or if Julie had been right about husband/wife it might have been, 'it's been quiet here ever since our daughter left for college'. SOMEthing. But I got nothin'.

I never saw any physical signs of affection that would have provided any clues. But if I had I don't know whether I would have been relieved to find out they were married or skeeved at their incestuousness.

So people, help me out here. This is like 'It's Pat' from SNL. I need to find a way to reveal who they are to each other short of whipping out the binoculars and stalking them. Next time I have an interaction with them, what do I say that would force an answer without them even knowing they were under investigation?

For instance, if he's her son, I could perhaps ask him,
"So how do you like your big-boy bed?"
Or to her,
"The library runs a nice Mommy and Me story hour on Saturdays"

If she's his wife, I could drop,
"We swing. Do you?"

I don't know. I don't think any of those would work. I need subtlety here. And I need help with it. So give me your suggestions, friends. I won't be able to sleep at night till I know one way or the other....





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Thanks for the image, Public Health Grand Rounds.....

3 comments:

Lynda Halliger Otvos (Lynda M O) said...

Could he be a live-in care provider or rent a room from her ?~!

I so seldom outright ask what’s the nature of someones’s relationship that i cannot even imagine what to say.

That said (haha) let’s brainstorm for appropriate conversation....

Ali said...

Haha! Love this, sounds like something that would drive me crazy! Reminds me of one of my college roommates, she was dating a guy, but couldn't remember his last name! We brainstormed ways to find out, including "how do you spell your last name?" Good thing she didn't ask that, turns out his last name was "Miller!" Try this question:

"So, do you have a lot of family in the area?"


It brings up the topic of family, and hopefully the answer might share some information! Good luck, and keep us up to date, now I'm curious!

Lori @ Five of My Own said...

you're officially in "Seinfeld" territory with this one.

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