What to Do About our Husbands?

Judy and I are blessed with two wonderful and caring husbands. With that said, something happens when they get together…and it’s not always a good thing. Take for example, our time in York. 

York is quite a magical place, figuratively (Lots of ghost tours, including “Mad Alice,” the one we attended thanks to professional traveler, Rick Steves) and literally. It’s a Medieval city influenced by its various conquerors, including the Romans, Vikings, Saxons, and the Normans—with hidden and not-so-hidden walls that each group built to prove they were there. 

The York Minster or Cathedral however, is the centerpiece of this lovely town, built in the 13th Century on top of Roman ruins which took more than 200 years to build and reflects three different kinds of architecture. Besides the professional tour we went on,  the Minster has an incredible self-guided tour located under the Minster to show the vast history of the city of York and of the cathedral itself.  It was great because it was interactive for both adults and children. I was lagging behind the others, and kept hearing the sound ahead of me of blocks crashing down.  As we were in a church—underground or otherwise—I thought after the third crash, “What kind of parents don’t discipline their children when they are making so much noise?” 

As I turned the corner, there was an interactive children’s display, but no children— just our two husbands making all that racket. They were trying to build a Norman archway, which even with blocks was no easy feat, as per all the noise. When they finally were successful in building the arch, they threw up their arms and cheered so loudly, you would have thought they had invented fire. 

And then there is the issue of their hearing and/or their ability to listen to us. The jury is out as to the real root of the problem. 

As we were walking into the Minster, I said that I had just  noticed a new statue of Queen Elizabeth II that was placed on the edifice of the building. While inside the Minster, I walked through a fascinating exhibit about the new statue and later talked about what I had learned with my three fellow travelers. Later on, the new statue came up in our conversation again, and Bob looked at me as if he had no idea what I was talking about. He was adamant that he must have been somewhere else on the multiple times we talked about the statue, even though we were talking about it as we walked into the Cathedral! 

But Mark’s “non-hearing” gets the award of the vacation. 

As I explained in previous blogs, the impetus of coming to this part of England was because of the beautiful countryside we saw while watching the PBS television show, “All Creatures Great and Small.” While we talked about many things during our time together, much of our conversations focused on the show, including how excited we all were to be able to see the first episode of Season 4 while in the UK and not have to wait for the US airing in January. In the eight days we were together before the show aired, Judy and I, in front of our husbands, discussed several times how we would miss the character of Tristan this season, as he had gone off to war during the last show of last year’s season. We further discussed how we had heard that he had a work conflict and that we both hoped that he would some day come back to the show. 

The big night arrived and Judy and I advised the guys that we needed to have an early dinner so that we could be back in the room in plenty of time to watch the premier.  Offhandedly, Tristan’s name came up during dinner and Mark asked us what we were talking about. Judy said, “Remember, he’s not going to be on the show any more because he went off to war.” I can only describe Mark’s face as completely flabbergasted, which was when he yelled, “WHAT!? Since when?”  Judy said, “Come on, Mark. You saw him last year on the train waiving good-bye and we’ve talked about this all week.” We knew he had not heard any of our previous discussions because he then said, “Why can’t they pick up a storyline while he is fighting in the war?” I felt, that while Mark was not my husband, after 8 days of us all being together, I could make a case for assisting Judy in yelling at him for not listening.  And so I did. What are friends for? 

Today, we left York and headed to the beautiful Yorkshire Coast. Tomorrow, we head back to London by train via York to spend one more evening with our new family before heading home.  If we have any extra time in York, I am taking Bob past that new statue of the Queen or when we get home, looking for hearing aids for the two of them






. 

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