Squirreling!

My husband has a short attention span . . . . we refer to it as 'squirreling'. Remember in the movie "Up" where the dog is talking until a squirrel runs by and then he is so distracted he can't go back to what he was doing? That is Joseph. It is most obvious when we are driving somewhere. The man is "squirreled" by all of the following:

• cute little kids
• jogging women
• free stuff on the sidewalk
• estate sale signs
• ANY VW, but especially buses and Things
• people wearing unusual clothing
• women with long gray hair (loves it)
• unusual bikes, especially the reclining ones
• motorcycles (he sighs)
• any car older than 1979

And I am sure there are more on the list. When Joseph sees any of these things, anything I was saying is lost. I could have been in the middle of "I am obsessed with ferrets and want to fill the house with as many as we can find" and if he sees anything on the list, I've lost him. He's looking and thinking and commenting. I usually mutter "squirrel" and then wait to see if he will return to our conversation.  Nine times out of ten, he won't. I will either have to pick back up where I left off or let it go. (It largely depends on the importance, and my mood!)

Do I find this annoying? Hell yes, I do. I roll my eyes, I sigh. I mutter. But you know what? You know what else this man does every day? 

• Helps me get dressed because it hurts me.
• Ties my shoes. 
• Holds open every door. 
• Takes out the wheelchair and puts it back in. 
• Walks v e r y slowly since that is all I can do. 
• Brushes and dries my hair. 
• Kisses me and hugs me and tells me I am beautiful when I couldn't feel less so. 
• Washes, dries and HANGS up all of my clothes so I can focus on work. 
• Stands over with me a massager and uses it on my back for as long as I want just to get some pain relief. 
• Tells me how wonderful I am multiple times a day. 
• Responds to my "Thank you for loving me" with "Thank you for making it so easy."
• Doesn't have a massive temper tantrum over the piles and piles and piles of paper in the living room. 
• Puts out my mail and gets it for me every day because just walking to the mailbox is sometimes more than I can do. 
• Makes me laugh when I am down and needing someone to lift me up. 
• Makes amazing meals three times a day.

So. . . . I am thinking that, all in all, I can put up with a BUNCH of squirrels in exchange for everything else I get. Now, I just need to see how he feels about a house full of ferrets.