Blink Before Changing Lanes

I admit to anyone who asks: I’m lazy. My Dad said I was lazy, and he was right. I spent seven years in college so that I wouldn’t have to work hard. When I started my career I promised myself that I would never work on another car, wash another car, wash another dish, shine another shoe, or mow, weed or trim another lawn. I’ve been somewhat successful in this. I have washed a few cars, do the dishes fairly often, and that’s it. So, in case you missed it . . . I’m lazy!

I don’t like to raise my left hand up and move the blinker unless I absolutely have to. I didn’t way I was emotionally mature, just lazy. My beautiful, talented, and very wise wife, Pam, decided that it was her duty to correct this behavior. She would tell me that I should blink. I would explain that there was no one behind me for miles. She would say it was the law. I would let her know that I was also going 75 in a 65. Other times Pam would tell me that it was rude not to blink. I said that I always blinked when someone needed to know I was changing lanes.

Well that wasn’t quite right, she said. How about on a congested freeway. No, that was different I retorted. If I blink to change lanes in that situation, the other cars will fill in my carefully espied spot. Sometimes, these discussions would not end well. : ) or : /

Anyway, one day she told me that when I changed lanes without blinking, she was not alerted to my plan to change lanes, and therefore it was disconcerting to her when I did so. You know what? That changed everything. From that day to this, I try very hard to remember to blink when I change lanes with her in the car. Its not because I’m such a great husband, but because her comfort was much more important to me than the law. And while the subject was “what I should do,” my pride got in the way. File this one under: Great methods for marital communication I wish I could remember all the time.