Telling Time

Shane and I have been married for 33 years, 7 months, and 3 weeks.

We are opposites in many ways. We tend to see things differently, and we have varying communication styles. One of our challenges is in the area of time.

I attribute our timing differences to our parents. Shane’s mother is usually at least 30 minutes late to every where; my Dad likes to be 15 minutes early. Growing up, I always thought my family wasted a lot of time waiting for things to begin; Shane and his mother missed half of every thing they attended by their lateness.

In all of these years, Shane and I have worked out some of the kinks in the way we approach timing.  Though we still speak a different language when we refer to time, I have learned to translate Shane’s language, which has saved us from some of our frustration.

Example 1:

Shane says: “I’ll call you right back.”

What I hear: “I’ll call back within the next 10 minutes.”

What Shane really means: “I’ll call you back within the next 8 hours.”

Example 2:

Shane says: “I’m ready to go.”

What I hear: “I’m ready to walk out the door.”

What Shane really means: “Give me 5 more minutes.”

Example 3:

Shane says: “It will take no time at all.”

What I hear: “IT WILL TAKE NO TIME AT ALL.”

What Shane really means: “It will take about 15 minutes, give or take a few.”

Example 4:

Shane says: “It will take X amount of time.”

What I hear: “It will take (whatever X is) amount of time.”

What Shane really means: “Take X, multiply it by 3, and hopefully, this is how much time it will take.”

Though we have made peace with our differences, I don’t expect we will ever operate in the same time-zone. But one thing is certain, I have become bi-lingual in the language of time.