Opus 2023-27: A Non-Magi Epiphany

I had a great moment of epiphany recently when I was being criticized.  

We were on our way to pick up our grandson for a birthday outing.  My wife was chattering on as she is want to do.  I was listening with one side of my brain and trying to decipher what was being said with the other.  That involves collecting the incomplete sentences and subject changes in the middle of a sentence and trying to piece them together in a coherent whole.  Does, “Can I buy a noun” ring any bells?

Suddenly I realized that she had just said something about someone who refused to admit he was wrong.  Whenever I hear that I know who the “someone” is.  I started to try to figure out what my recent sin was.  It involved insisting that the map was wrong and we could not be where we were.  I eventually figured out the red letter event and, as I said, it brought an epiphany of joy.

The moment she was using to illustrate my arrogance took place before my son was old enough to drive.  He is in his 40's now so I estimate it was around 35 years ago.  At first I started building up my blood pressure over old skeletons being resurrected, then something occurred to me:  She had to go back 35 years to find a mistake.  She did not start with this morning and then move to yesterday evening and work her way backwards.  She jumped 35 years.

I don’t know that I am noted for my humility but I found myself being impressed that she had to go back that far to find something I was wrong about.

I can live with that.  I may not be perfect but my own wife had embarked on a three decade hunt for her buried treasure.

homo unius libri