My Unobservant Husband

I know: It's a guy thing. Many men just can't see things when they're right in front of them. I had a dad, along with 3 brothers. I've got numerous male cousins. I've heard the phrase, "I can't find it!" too many times to count. But sometimes, I wonder if Charlie is a little worse than most. I'll give you some examples.

Today happens to be our anniversary. A few years ago, Charlie was looking at a birth announcement for one of our nephews. He happened to be born on January 20th. As Charlie was looking at it, he started mumbling, "January 20th. January 20th." Then, he asked, "Hey Michelle? What's so significant about January 20th?" Really?!?! His defense was, "At least I knew there was something important about that day."

About 5 years ago, Sam had just come into our lives. We were on our way home from the hospital. We had to drive from Powell to Lovell, but we needed to stop off at Blair's to get a few things. My mom was with us. Sam had fallen asleep, and I didn't want to wake him up, so my mom and I went into the store while Charlie stayed out with Sam. A short while later, Charlie walked into the store. With no baby. Luckily, he ran into my mom first (I was elsewhere in the store). My mom asked where Sam was. Charlie ran back out to the car. They didn't tell me about that one for a while :) But he explained, "He was just so quiet, I forgot you left him out in the car with me."

Recently, our sink needed replaced. The plumber came over and got it all taken care of. As he was leaving, he said that we shouldn't use the sink for at least 24 hours in order for the caulk to seal properly. I wanted to be sure that Charlie got the message not to use the sink, just in case I wasn't home when he got home. So I put some sticky notes on the mirror and wrote the words huge. There's no way he could miss that, right?

Later that night, I was laying in bed watching TV, when I thought I heard the sink going. "Charlie, are you using the sink in there?" "Yeah, why?" Seriously? You didn't see the sticky notes? His reply: "I thought you were just leaving yourself a note for something, so I didn't read them." I don't see how that's possible.

I didn't have high hopes when Sam wore the new shirt I had bought him. And sure enough, he didn't notice it. An hour or so went by, and Charlie still didn't notice, so I figured he needed a little help. So I said, "Sam, did you show Daddy your new shirt?"

Even still, it took him a little while to figure it out :)