I was thinking today of people I’d choose to have with me during a crisis, not a small calamity, like I can’t find the car keys, but something big, like the country is under siege by Republicans. Or even something medium dramatic, like Charleston being invaded by mealy bugs. (I actually don’t know what mealy bugs are, but they sound like insects that would steal your dinner.) I don’t know what made me think of crises. Maybe it was the incident that occurred last week at Charleston High School when someone called and said that someone else had brought a gun to school. It turns out there probably was no gun, but school officials were worried and shut down the school. (Or maybe it was reading about Santorum, who makes the pope look like a liberal, and whom I’ve started calling Sanitarium.)
At the top of my list would be Terri and Tim. They are two of the calmest, most logical and most hard working people I know. They’re not married to each other or otherwise related, but they do share similarities (other than being calm and hard working and logical.) Both have exceptionally smart and good-looking children who say and do funny things. Both have an admirable knowledge of sports, Terri of pro football and baseball, especially the Rams and the Cardinals (she’s from St. Louis), and Tim of college football, especially University of Alabama football (one of his alma maters), and baseball (he cheers for that other Chicago team.) Both are funny. Not ha-ha funny—you’re not likely to hear them tell fart jokes or do Daffy Duck imitations—but dry, insightful, often sarcastic funny.
Terri and Tim would stay calm and focused. They would draw up plans, including Venn diagrams and detailed instructions, as to how to get out of the above-mentioned crises. They would provide necessary humor and perhaps even baked goods. We could all watch sports together.
Another person I’d want to have with me in a crisis is Bonnie. Bonnie has been a friend and a mentor since I’ve been here at Eastern. She is calm, logical, and hard working. She knows a thing or two about diplomacy and a lot about politics of all kinds. She and her husband host a monthly game night. Compared to some other people who shall remain nameless, she is a good sport. Although she is competitive, she doesn’t need to win. She doesn’t get into extended arguments about the rules. And she provides really good food: grape leaves, fancy cheese, chocolate.
Yes, this would be my emergency trinity. I’d have other people on board the crisis ark as well: my husband, for Scrabble and sex (honey, you are more than a Scrabble sex god, but I don’t have room or time to write about the other things); my writing group, so I wouldn’t be focused completely on the crisis (or could write about the dire predicament); the people I’ve mentioned previously in Daiva’s Month of Friendly Love (which include my husband and writing group.) I’d throw in the three people who read my blog.
It would be a pretty big and entertaining ship.