Saturday, August 28, 2010

What Did You Call Her?

Today was my sister-in-law's birthday.  She's 40-something, and crazy as ever.  As I was mowing the lawn today I was thinking about a time when she and my brother were newlyweds.  We were all in the car together and I think Dan was driving.  At any rate, Dan and Michelle were in the front seat and I was in the back.

It was the typical DC beltway driving I so detest and which has often caused tempers to flare as turns were missed and maps were misread by the "navigator."  But nobody seemed particularly upset or out of sorts, despite the congested traffic.  So I was surprised to hear my brother, not once, but several times, say something to his wife, calling her by a rude name.

"Where are we supposed to turn, B-tch?" he asked in a conversational tone.

Michelle responded as if this were completely normal, and I sat there in the back seat, dumbfounded.  I was perplexed by my brother's choice of names to call his wife, and even more surprised by her perfectly happy responses to being so called.  Now, remember, this was NOT in the day of the popularity of calling each other "cutesy" vulgar names.  This was in the 80's (wow! that just sounds ridiculous when I consider the 80's to be a "long time ago! )

When we finally reached our destination, I could hold my curiosity no longer.

Dan, why do you keep calling Michelle, "B-tch?" (the "-" is pronounced like a short "i" as in "ink")

Dan and Michelle BOTH bust up laughing as Dan explained he was most certainly NOT calling his wife that!  He was calling her "Mitch," which was his nickname for her....... DUH!  Well, at least I asked and didn't go home thinking my brother was some sort of coarse husband!

So today, on her 40-something birthday, I wish Michelle very happy birthday!

Michelle, hamming it up, Thanksgiving 2009
Clowning around, Thanksgiving 2009
Dan and Michelle -- Newlyweds



8 comments:

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

Well, a Happy Birthday to Mitch!! :-))) What a funny story and great memory!

By the way, you're right, the beltway certainly can and does bring out the worst in everyone--I avoid it at all cost, I don't care if it'll take me longer to get somewhere, I stay off it as much as possible!

Sharon said...

Happy Birthday, Mitch! So glad it wasn't what you thought you heard! Words and sounds can be quite different in a car, with the motor and the tires on the pavement. Ever sing in the car? You sound good! Get out of the car.... yikes!

Inger said...

Good thing you asked. And Happy Birthday to Michelle!

Leigh, Andrea Leigh Gil said...

LOL! Happy Birthday Mitch!

Judy's Corner said...

Kim,
I know, I know~ and I have to drive up there this afternoon and will be in that crazy place for a couple of days! Not my cup of tea to be sure, but at least the GPS navigational system is helpful...especially when driving around that area alone!

Judy's Corner said...

Sharon,

You are right. We love to sing in the car and even my mother sounded as if she could "almost" carry a tune while in the car... The rest of us ARE singers, but Mom, not so much... she tells the tale of how they PAID her to simply MOUTH the words when she was in the Glee Club in college...LOL...my mother, the original "lip syncher!"

Judy's Corner said...

Inger,

Yep, otherwise I would have left, ALWAYS believing what I'd heard! Michelle read this post after my niece directed her here, and she sent me an email acknowledging that Dan stopped calling her "Mitch" that day and that it is one of his favorite stories to tell...funny, I never even thought they remembered!

Judy's Corner said...

Hey Leigh,

Michelle indicated she had a GREAT birthday....family and one of their foreign exchange students from years gone by visiting, shopping, and an IMAX movie were part of her celebration! No slowing down any time soon, that's for CERTAIN!