The importance of missing her

One of my friends has recently been going on several unexpected business trips. His travels have mostly been in the US but he is scheduled to go to Germany for a two week trip.

When I visited him and his wife last week, I inquired him about his upcoming trip. He quickly shhhh’d me. He asked me, sotto voce, not to bring the topic up because his wife was mad about the trip. Being his loyal friend, I promptly asked his wife what the matter was. She flatly said, “No I am not mad about the trip.”

When a woman flatly says she is not mad about A, it means she is mad about B, C, D and a bunch of other things. After some cajoling she finally revealed the real reason, saying “I am not mad about his going on the trip. I am disappointed (read furious) that he seems ecstatic to go on the trip, as if he were happy to be away for some time.”

I was thinking there was going to be some heated discussion but my friend, being a wise man he was, quickly initiated emergency procedures and apologized to her profusely. He assured her that he was going on the trip only because he had to and so on and deftly brought the situation under control.

Isn’t that funny? His wife was okay with his trip as long as he regretted the trip. And, he never felt the need to express to her that he would miss her as much as she did him. We men are completely ignorant to such subtleties I guess!