Newlyweds, Couples & A T-Shirt

Photo by Alvin Mahmudov on Unsplash

Sometimes it’s hard to write so many words on one subject, so I thought I would add five stories to this one post. They are all on the same subject, so I can get away with doing it. I wish they wouldn’t have happened but I can’t control other people’s misconceptions.

If you read Black Friday and What???? you know this is an occurrence that I would much rather not be receiving.

There’s the Newlyweds

From 2003 through 2008, my Mom and I went on vacation to Daytona Beach, Florida.

At the time, we lived eighty miles away. We would always travel along U.S 1, even though we would run into several traffic lights. She was the one who always drove when we went on long excursions. We skipped going Interstate 95 because the speeds that people go on there are ridiculous. They travel well over the 75 mph speed limit. I know because I have driven on it a couple of times.

It was much better going the route we did because we got to look at all of the interesting things in the towns and cities we traveled through.

At the time, we were huge NASCAR fans. We would go to watch the Craftsman Truck Series race. The first year it was held during the day. We would start out early in the morning to get there before the 11 a.m. start.

The next year, they changed the start time to 7:30 p.m. We didn’t want to drive home so late, as the race would end around 10:30 p.m., so we decided to book a hotel room for a week. This way we could go to some of the other festivities. We would shop at the local mall. And we would go to some of the meet and greets with the drivers to get their autographs and talk with them.

In 2007 or 2008, we had just come out of DaytonaUSA, which has the winning car from the Daytona 500, a pit stop challenge, a racing simulator, and a lot of historic cars and memorabilia, and were heading to a different area. We were going to the track to watch the cars during practice. There were several booths set up along the sidewalk and parking lot.

A man running one of the booths shouts toward us. Here is what was said:

Man: “There’s the newlyweds!”

Mom: “Are you serious?”

Man: “What?”

Mom: “Do you really think that? He’s my son.”

Man: “I….”

And we kept walking. Boy did we talk about that one. And we still talk about it to this day. We’ll think of something and then we talk about it again and think what the heck was that guy thinking.

Bealls

Bealls is a department store. They carry everything from clothes to shoes to home décor. When I’m buying t-shirts, I normally go with a size large. This one time I had bought 2 long sleeve shirts and they had been mismarked when they were made. They were two sizes too big. The arms reached way past my hands. The only way to wear them was to hike up the sleeves. And I obviously could only wear them around the house. There was no wearing them out in public.

So this time, I wanted to make sure that it was an actual large. I decided to go into the dressing room to try it on. When I came out, I saw my Mom talking with a woman who had her husband with her. I smiled and we went our separate ways. As we are standing in the checkout line, my Mom tells me that the woman asked her what her husband’s size was. She thought I was her husband. Ahhh!!!!! Can you believe this? I said to my Mom, you corrected her right? She said no. She told me she didn’t want to embarrass her.

That might have been okay. But here I was being misrepresented again.

Old Time Pottery

When we lived in Melbourne, we used to go shopping all the time to Old Time Pottery. If you’ve never been to one, they have all kinds of different things. The name of the business is deceiving. They have lamps, posters, plants, everything you would want for your bedroom and bathroom, glasses, etc.

We got to know an older woman who worked there. We didn’t know her life story though. Mostly just saying hi and talking about shopping. It seemed like whenever we checked out, she was the cashier. She commented on things we were purchasing.

The last time we saw her, she was stocking items in one of the aisles. And then she said this, “There’s the happy couple”. LOL!!!! She talked with us for a few minutes and then we went our separate ways.

I told my Mom, she thinks we’re a couple. You have to say something next time. Or I have to say it. We never saw her again because we moved to a city north of where the store is and haven’t been there since we left.

Why can’t I get away from this?

A Doctor’s Office

One of my Mom’s doctors retired. Another practice moved in and took over the previous doctor’s clients. She had to fill out a bunch of paperwork. Unfortunately, they had everything on a tablet. I had to fill out everything because my Mom is not very good with tablets.

During an appointment a couple of days before Thanksgiving, I was introduced as her son to the front desk staff. Her appointment lasted about 20 to 30 minutes. When she was done getting her next appointment, the staff member wished her and her husband a happy Thanksgiving. Here we go again!!!

T-Shirt

As you can see a pattern developed. A pattern no one should suffer through. Whenever I was out with my Mom, everyone thought I was married to her. I can tell you I was sick of it.

So I proposed doing a t-shirt and wearing it when I went out with my Mom. I had several ideas and I was ready to make my own shirt. I didn’t do it but I was at my wit’s end.

Here is what I came up with:

Graphic by Matt Murray

Conclusion

We are almost 30 years apart.

I had extenuating circumstances when I was going out shopping with my Mom. I had hard times where I was out of a job for a long time. During this time, I had to live with her. These days I hear people say that they can’t understand why adult kids are still living with their parents. They don’t get it because they haven’t lived through extenuating circumstances. I wish those who are disapproving of it could understand the things that happen in people’s lives.

She doesn’t go out with me much these days since she has medical issues. I’m her caregiver and she lives with me.

Is this why I’m still single? Do all these potential women think I’m not available? Who knows!

Until next time, happy reading.

-Matt