Today I had a ‘literal’ moment – that thing when you interpret something literally and exactly as it’s not meant to be.
I call them ‘my literals’.
As an example, I recall having to write an essay in school called, ‘It Never Rains but It Pours’. Naturally, I wrote about going for a picnic and then it rained and then it poured.
That’s a ‘literal’.
To my surprise, I got an E.
I don’t think I’ve had many ‘literals’ since then – until recently, that is. The menopause arrived and ‘bang’ went my ability to see the subtlety in words. Not always, but certainly enough to spot that something had changed.
At times, I find it hilarious but mostly I find it worrying and want to cry.
These days, everything makes me want to cry.
Today’s example came in the form of an unexpected text I received from my cousin Reena. Cousin Reena is fabulous ─ modestly clever and extremely bi-lingual. Her French is nothing short of fantastique. Sadly, we don’t get to speak to or see each other much but, as per my new favourite saying, ‘it is what it is’.
Her text came as a lovely surprise. This is what it said:
“Hello cousins. I thought you’d like to know we were all together at your house exactly fifty years ago. Our dads stayed up all night watching the moon landing on the TV in the playroom, while the mums went to bed.”
And this is what went on in my menopausal mind:
Did the moon really land on our TV?
Hmmm, I don’t remember…
Surely, I’d have remembered if the moon had landed on our TV?
Maybe I was asleep?
Maybe I was too young to remember?
Wow! The moon landing on our TV … that’s amazing.
And then it dropped. The penny.
I laughed and laughed and laughed. Then I laughed some more. It was the kind of laughter that can easily turn into tears or a mini pee and sometimes does.
That’s the kind of literal I’m talking about.
Very inappropriate for a woman in her fifties.
And I blame the ‘pause.
J x
(Shared from my old diary – 20th July 2019)
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