I always appreciate when those who are doing something for me that I can’t do myself communicate in a manner I comprehend. It annoys me when experts spew out a paragraph of jargon only their graduating class would understand, and then follow it with “in other words, in layman’s terms. . .” because the underlying flavor is one of condescension. This is similar to what I call the English Major Flaw, or don’t correct someone’s grammar unless they ask you to. Which they won’t.
I had an appointment this week for a routine dermatology exam and I decided for a change to see the female member of the group I go to. I had never seen her before so we introduced ourselves in the treatment room as she looked over my chart. I can’t tell how old people are anymore, but I would estimate her to be roughly in my age range of late-forties to mid-fifties. She examined me and pointed to the many freckles on my arms and face that have appeared as regularly as the years that brought them.
DR: These are all to be expected with the passage of time and exposure to the sun. They’re absolutely nothing to worry about.
OSV: So you’re saying there’s really no avoiding them.
DR: The only way is to die young. Which for you is no longer possible.
She totally deadpanned it and had already moved around to my back when I went out of control laughing. She almost had to stop the exam. I told her I appreciated her candidness. She asked if I’d be having a lot of company for Thanksgiving. I told her we eat out and only Husband orders turkey. She said we wouldn’t be trading recipes anyway since she caters in. I’ve had some memorable Meet the Doctor moments but this was in a class by itself.
When Husband got home from work, I asked him to follow me over to our auto mechanic so I could leave the car overnight for him to work on the next day. Among other things, it was making a strange noise, which Husband said sounded like the muffler or manifold. I wrote it all down in a note for Artie so he knew what had to be done:
Hi Artie,
Please take care of the following things on my Sentra:
1. Oil change
2. Air in tires
3. Doesn’t always start the first time
4. Unnatural sound when running
Thanks!
OSV
I waited in Husband’s car as he went in to talk to Artie. He came out laughing as hard as I had at the dermatologist.
OSV: What’s so funny?
HUSBAND: Artie got to number four on your list and said not only will he look into the unnatural sound but while he has the hood up he’ll check for UFOs.
World Traveling Cousin could be anywhere, but his pictures are here
Budapest from the Citadel
WWII Memorial, Washington
snowy road
London’s Little Venice