From Jeffrey Goldberg's Q&A advice column in the Atlantic:
Sometimes when we’re driving somewhere and silent for a while, my husband will turn to me and ask, “What are you thinking about?” What should I say?
P. D., Madison, Wis.
Dear P. D.,
Good question. Here are a few possible responses:
“I was just thinking about how great you look in sweatpants.”
“I was just wondering whether it would be possible to have sex in the car right now.”
“I was just wondering whether it would be possible to have sex while watching a football game on television.”
“I was just thinking that I’d love to see your baseball-card collection from when you were 10.”
“I was just thinking that it is totally unfair of me to expect you to be interested in my emotions.”
“I was just thinking that we should probably hire a Swedish au pair.”
Often I try to mute the blaring sounds of our daily existence so to listen to the whispers of truth that life reveals to us. That’s also when I recognized mind is a disconnected, unrelated *process*, not a ready reckoner that connects every past event as in a chain to the present or the future, both near and distant.
Hahaha…nice find! I’ll try to remember those!
Open your heart and you’ll see…New things can emerge after these answers.
I emailed this one to my with my wife as advice for her… Her response…
I’m pretty sure you’ve never even asked that question for fear that you may have done something wrong. Silence=no nagging. Funny, though.