Living with a "Time Optimist".

I want to be early to meetings; I like to have that extra time to prepare. My husband on the other hand has no understanding of "time". The result is that I'm lying to him to get anywhere in time. "The meeting? It's at 15.15." Then I hope that he doesn't find out that it's 15.30 because then we will be more than a little late.

Today was one of those 15.15 days. I reminded him a couple of times, starting when he got out of bed. At 15.00 he looked around in panic, where had the time gone? He thought it was 13.00. (That's interesting since he got out of bed at 13.15.) Anyhow ... It's 15.00. It's time to get ready so that we will not be late for the 15.15 meeting. What does he do? He makes himself breakfast because he didn't eat when he got up. No hurry what so ever.

So it's 15.10 and I'm more than moderately irritated, and I manage to get him out of the kitchen. This would mean that we are now on our way out of the house to go to the 15.15 meeting right? Wrong. He has not checked his e-mail. By now, I'm growling loudly at him and he's irritated because I'm stressing him. This is when he realizes that he needs to change his sweater.

15.15 this is the time he knows we should be at the meeting. He has not left the house. I go outside to check the mail and take some deep breaths. I get back in again and he's in the bathroom. Yeah, he's known for days that we have a meeting today at 15.15. I've reminded him several times during the 2 hours he has been awake, but it's still news to him and "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do".

Now I'm shouting through the door, we have to go, it's 15.25. He comes out from the bathroom and I push him out the front door. I know that we have 5 minutes to get there in time. He moves in slow motion, stops to think about something and then he goes through his pockets. I'm thinking that he's looking for the car keys and I'm brutally wrong, he's looking for ... chewing gum.

No, we didn’t get to the meeting in time this time either. Maybe next time?