Better Than Me

Have you ever enjoyed something so much that you wanted to share it with someone you love? You know, maybe a movie or a good book. Perhaps a game or a hobby.

I do! I think, "Wow, this is neat. How much neater would it be with someone I like to be around?" 

I've done this throughout my life and the two times that stick with me are the times I regretted it. Like, really brain? Thanks. Because I was lacking in the regret department over here apparently. 

The first time was in high school. I was dating a really nice, smart boy. He was a year older than I was, and didn't have a 7th period. (The last period of the day). He could have normally just gone home around 1:00, but I convinced him to stay at school and take Advanced A&P with me. I needed the class (he didn't) and I needed a ride home (he had a car). Win, win, right?

So, I convinced him to stay and take A&P with me, we got to be lab partners (I mean, really, what's better than getting to be lab partners with your boyfriend in high school?) and everything was going swimmingly. 

Until I realized he was making a slightly better grade than I was. I mean, I was one of the top students in the class (this was my thing after all). but if I made a 97 on a test, he made a 99. Or if I made a 103 (we always had bonus questions on the end of exams) he would make a 104. I was kind of outraged. I mean, this wasn't even a class he really wanted to take. He was just taking it because his girlfriend was taking it. Granted - he was (and still is, I'm assuming) an extremely intelligent guy. But this was MY thing. HIS thing was the Amateur Van Cliburn. MY thing was supposed to be A&P. It was something I was naturally good at, and he was beating me. 

Fast forward 10 years, and I should have known that this was a recurring theme in my life. I've ended up with another extremely smart man, who is better than me at everything. 

In the beginning, we used to play games (we still do occasionally), but after being beaten by 150 points on Scrabble every time, it's lost its thrill. I refuse to play Words with Friends on our phones together. Card games are out of the question. 

So, last week when Cory finally asked what the heck I was doing on my phone every evening, I showed him this addictive little game called candy crush. He thought it looked pretty dumb at first and held off for a day or two. But I'm sure he just couldn't resist the pulling temptation of "I-have-to-beat-my-wife-at-everything" and he downloaded it on the ipad. At first, he asked me to explain what the point was and what certain actions did, etc. So, I was feeling awfully smug since I was about 26 levels ahead when he started playing. I thought to myself, "He won't catch up to me. It took me several days to get here. And I'll be 26 levels further by the time he gets to this level." 

Why? Why did I think that would be the case? Has it ever been the case? No.

SO of course, this story ends with him coming home from work two days later, and already having passed me up. I think to date: he is twice as far. 

I mean, did any of us really think it would end any other way? Of course not. 

In the famous words of Homer Simpson: "Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try."

Stranger

I'm in an awkward social predicament. Everyone has those, and it seems to be that the longer you let it go on, the worse it gets.

There's a lady that I see almost on a daily basis that knows my name. She says hi to me, I wave and say, "Hey! How are you!?" back. She knows my kids' names. And the thing is, I know WHERE I know her from. But I don't KNOW WHO SHE IS. She is the mom of some cub scouts in our cub scout pack. I even know which neighborhood she lives in. I know her dog's name (because she came into the vet on the same day we were there and picked up medication for her dog)! I see HER ALL THE TIME. But I do not know her name. 

I even tried process of elimination. I dug up a cub scout program that had the boys' names listed to match her to her kids. (See, I'm serious about trying to stealthily find out who she is so that I will never have to admit I don't know her name!) But there were a few too many to reliably know which one was her. If you count the total amount of time I've known her, It's been about 7 or 8 months. But at the beginning I didn't realize she knew who I was and wasn't too concerned about needing to know her name. But then, she started chatting me up, saying hi and I was like, "Ooh, I should know her name. Oh, I'll figure it out soon enough." But then, I would forget until the next time I saw her and every avenue of "who is that" I tried to go down lead to a dead end. I don't know how many more options I have left other than just asking her outright what her name is. But it's been 7 or 8 months. She's going to know I haven't known her name for the whole time! 7 or 8 months is a long time!