My Finest Foot-in-Mouth Moment

I was right.

But better than that: he was wrong.

And I was there to witness it!

The weekly visit to the OB/Gyn had started out normally enough. Daniel parked the car and helped me out. I started waddling to the front entry doors of the hospital but soon realized that I was on my own. When I turned around, I discovered Daniel marching of in a completely different direction.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“Follow me!” was his only reply.

Now I’m a Choleric temperament. I don’t like being told what to do. And I really hate being told what to do without a reasonable explanation.

I paused momentarily and chose to follow out of vanity; being so very pregnant, I preferred to be seen walking with my husband rather than wandering around alone.

As Daniel led me up unfamiliar stairs, my annoyance threatened to grow into anger. Who does he think he is, leading an 8-months-pregnant woman on some wild goose chase! This is ridiculous!

But my anger was interrupted by a most delectable thought: What if he’s wrong? What if he has no clue where he’s going and is just bluffing?

A delicious glee welled up inside. Obviously, he was lost. This meant that my “I married Mr. Right but didn’t realize his first name was Always” husband was about to be Mr. W-r-o-n-g.

I was Right

Finally!

I was right.

He was wrong.

And I was there to witness it!

Smugly, I followed with feigned compliance. With each corner we turned, my anticipation grew. He’s wrong. He’s wrong. He’s wrong. NAH-na-NAH-na-NAH-NA!

I could tell from his face that he was about to give up. As he grasped the doornob of what I knew would be the last door before he turned to me and said those magical, never-before-heard-from-a-Melancholy words, “I’m wrong,” I set off inner fireworks, launching my victory party.

Startled, I saw my doctor’s office window; behind the receptionist, the clock pointed to our exactly on time arrival.

How was this possible? As my inner expectations clashed with outer reality, I looked at Daniel in wide-eyed amazement. My Sanguine mouth went into motion without any filtering from my brain, and I blurted out,

“You DO know something I don’t know!”

And it wasn’t until I saw the wide-eyed amazement on Daniel’s face that I rewound, heard what I’d said, and then realized what I’d said.

He Was Right

He was right.

I was wrong.

And a waiting room full of people were there to witness it.

The fact that Daniel never brings this story up tells you what kind of man he is. Oh, the mileage he could get! But I remember it regularly, a rueful reminder of how petty, stubborn, and even contemptuous I can be.