Ring! Ring!
Every once in awhile, my old buddy Stan calls me in a panic.
Usually late at night.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Don’t want to talk about it,” he said.
“Then why did you call?”
He sounded confused. “I forgot.”
“If you forgot, it couldn’t be serious.”
“But it was.”
“How do you know?”
“I remember that much.”
“Then try to remember what it was.”
“I said, I didn’t want to talk about it.”
“Stan, I get it. You’re going stir-crazy from the Covid lock-down. Everyone is.”
“It’s more than that.”
“How so?”
“My business is in the sewer. I am stuck home with Daphne and we ran out of projects to keep us busy. It was only last week before we could buy toilet paper and now we can’t find bacon. I can’t take this anymore.”
“Like I said, everyone is losing it to some degree.”
“But that’s the problem, I can’t lose it.”
“Why not?”
“Because Daphne depends on me to hold it together. I have to remain strong for her, and it is driving me nuts. What can I do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Dude, I am counting on you.”
I didn’t know what to tell him, so I shot from the hip.
“Just fake it,” I told him. “You don’t have to hold it together for anyone else, you just have to look like you do.”
“I knew you would have the answer.”
Click
***
Ring! Ring!
This time it was Stan’s wife, Daphne.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she snapped.
“You called me,” I reminded her.
“Stan is driving me nuts.”
“How so?”
“He thinks I depend on him to hold it together.”
“So?”
“I don’t.”
“So?”
“Okay, maybe his way of coping with stress is to stay strong for others, but what do I do? Pretend to depend on him?”
“Sure.”
“That’s what I’ve been doing, and it is not working.”
“Then you might want to throttle it back just a bit.”
She thought about that.
“Good advice.”
Click
***
“Why do they call you?” my wife wanted to know.
“It helps.”
“Maybe they should talk to someone who knows what they are talking about, like a counselor.”
“That would never work.”
“Why not?”
“Because they don’t want to talk about it.”
Almost Iowa 
Very, very funny. I would like to thank you, but I do not want to talk about it. Greta post.
Sorry, Great Post.
Hey, Greta post works too.
Haha, hilarious. Please send me your number and I’ll get my hubby to call you.
I don’t wanna talk about it – how you broke my heart. But if I stay here just a little bit longer – if I stay here won’t you listen…
-Rod Stewart, but might as well be Stan or Daphne
Yep, that’s it, in a nutshell.
(Mike drop)
During this difficult time, it’s good to see that you can complain (while I can still detect a bit of an underlying smile).
I think we should talk about this, Greg. You’re too good a counselor to keep it mum!😁
I can see why Stan and Daphne rely on you….excellent advice! Most counselors make you “talk about it!”
What’s your number? I want to talk about it. 🙂
I’ll give you Stan’s. 🙂
Hahahahah. It’s great to have friends!
And sometimes not so great.
You’re a good friend. What time was this call?
If it is really serious, Stan will call around 3:00 a.m. This was a late news kind of call. 🙂 🙂 🙂
I have nothing to say….A rarity…..
On the day when I have nothing to say, it will be a first. 🙂
I don’t want to talk about it either.
Which is why I blog…
😁
Hey, blogging is worse than talking – because it lasts forever.
Not if you know how to work the delete button.
😉
Nothing on the internet really goes away. See Archive.org. Just enter your blog url.
Uh oh…
😳
Good stuff. I’m glad they both have a good friend willing to talk about it.
It would be nice if they would just talk to each other – but then what would I have to write about?
None of us want to talk about it!
So that’s why we’re not doing it. 🙂 🙂
Exceptionally funny, Greg. I don’t want to talk about it though.
I didn’t want to talk about it either, but my muse made me.
I get that.
Oddly, your advice reminds me of the nuns at school who answered our teenage angst with “just pretend you can cope and you’ll find out you’re coping after all.”
Exactly! Fake it ’til you make it.
Ha! I busted up. This is perfect.
I don’t want to talk about it.