Saturday, April 20, 2019

Melancholy Man

"The invitation was canceled??" My husband speaks regretfully and looks out of the window. His bent back looks bitter.

It's been a long time since I was invited to join my husband and wife."Are you going to come with me?'" "I'll go." "Really?" "No one invites us when we are older. We'll go when someone invite us." He used to be a husband who want me go alone and didn't even answer back. It's good to see a husband who has changed a lot, but it's also disturbing.

Women of my age are busy going to various cultural gatherings. However, there are few social gatherings of husbands' peers. My husband's remark is a phone call from mother-in-law, who lives in Los Angeles every other day, starting with "The weather is so nice!" "It's mothers blessing." Old my mother-in-law who has no oratorical skill,  so she repeats the same words. A couple of months are about the weather, and a few months are about want us to come to LA. He's been there a while ago, and she wants him to come again if she has forgotten it. For a while she was angry that I didn't call, but now she does not even look for me anymore if she has forgotten me.

My husband is confined to the studio for 10 hours a day. All he say is a few words to me over dinner. Sometimes when we meet our sons and eat out, he talks a lot. The children talk along with their dad because they know he have no one to talk to. "Go easy, let me speak, too." When I step in, the children side with him, saying, "Daddy is talking with joy."

It is a husband who does not feel lonely but he talks a lot and bragging when he meets people. I used to give him a scolding to not show off. But these days "Do everything you want to say. People don't care about other people. They don't remember what you said. If they don't want to hear it, that's it."

I thought my husband was the only one waiting for the invitation, but my friend's husband was waiting that day too. I feel sorry for older men. When they was young, they couldn't eat and dress properly. After immigrating, they had a hard time adjusting to life in America. Married, they struggled to lead a family. They got relaxed in old age, but when they were invited, they can't pick up food with hesitation, because it is an adult disease.

My friend's husband has been dozing off lately, so she made up herbal medicine for her husband. When my husband returns from his lunch for a walk, he has been dozing off like a chick in the spring sun too. 'Would you like to take an herbal medicine. No, eat yourself. My a supplement is just to having you next to me?"

What's wrong with him? It's so weird. He used to say that he was annoying if I were next to him. I'm going to buy him an herbal medicine. If he doesn't eat, I'll make the nutritious food for him. I feel sorry for him. I guess that if a couple lives together for a long time, they know each other's true values.

No comments:

Post a Comment