You look tired

john | Jan. 20, 2024, 6:43 p.m. Uncategorized

This is a phrase I uttered the other day which has lead down a philosophical rabbit hole.  It all started when I was visiting my sister.  Morning had broken and she came out of her room.  I saw her and uttered "You look tired."

Now of course my sister decided this was the moment she wanted to bring the entire meaning of what it means to look tired into the equation.   "Don't tell me that!"

"Huh?"

The morning discourse of why I should not tell her she looks tired.  In a sort of infinite jest, which coincidental sits below her living room table, it began.  As we got ready to go get some breakfast we kept it going.  "No woman wants to hear that they look tired."

"But you do look tired, so much so when I get to the breakfast spot I want to tell the server 'This woman needs a coffee stat!'"

She was not amused.

Thankfully we where just getting to the breakfast spot, so we got distracted. As we walk in we see our mutual friend, she was serving today.

My sister starts with the story, I correct a minor detail, and then we wait for her opinion. She looks at me, being wiser than me by a few decades, and says "You never tell a lady she looks anything but wonderful."

She's french, go figure.  So I bowed my head and said "So what do I say"

Both of them look at me and say "Nothing!"