Exhausting the Topic

When D2 was here, one evening Wifey put on a movie about Queen Victoria, and the three of us watched.  My Ds and Wifey love British Royal tales -- I sort of watched out of boredom.  But there was one great line -- one of the consorts was going on and on about something, and the young queen said "You have exhausted the topic!"  Wifey and I looked at each other -- both sometimes have a tendency to go on a bit long about things -- she routinely, and me when I have a few vodkas...So now, one looks at the other, and says "Sweetie -- you have exhausted the topic..."

And so it was about last weekend.  We flew to Philly to attend a friends' daughters' wedding, and, well, it was a very simple affair.   We learned that there was a beer crawl the first night we weren't invited to -- just for the younger guests -- and Wifey and I ended up falling asleep in the hotel by 9.  The wedding itself  was simple and the brunch the following day featured powdered eggs and not enough tables to sit --most of the guests were Jews, and having a brunch without lox is, well, not done...It was in Philly.

I went on and on -- I guess when people HAVE the money to put on a nice affair and instead don't do so, it goes against my grain.  I've been to plenty of wedding put on by folks of humble means -- and they're often at least warm and inviting affairs.  This one -- we tried to dance once, and the expressionless DJ stopped the 70s song and put on an instrumental.  Just weird the whole time...

But Wifey is right -- I exhausted the topic.  We got away -- walked the streets of Philadephia, thankfully with OUT AIDS, like Tom Hanks in the movie -- ate some decent pizza, and found a friendly pub where we ate nice chicken sandwiches, I drank a well poured Guiness, and watched the NFL game.  So enough about the complaining!

The last day there, we walked to the new Jewish American History museum, and it was worth the walk.  The top floor was all about rock impressario Bill Graham, and then the other floors essentially told the story of my family (turn of the century immigrants from Eastern Europe) and Wifey's (Holocaust Survivors who found Israel).  There were great films, and recreations of typical homes from the 60s where American Jews fled to suburbs.  All around well done.

We also stopped in the Mutter Medical Museum.  That was a clunker for me -- essentially floors of pathology specimens.  I DID text my boys Eric and Barry, though -- telling them I was impressed -- I would have clearly flunked gross anatomy had I gone to med school -- stuff all looks the same to me.  That led to a hilarious thread about whether they have an "Obamacare Wing -- devoted to the time when the US actually tried to insure people."  My friends are funny, thankfully.

So we;re back in the humidity -- and I learned, again, a lesson about me.  When I attend social events my gut tells me are going to be unenjoyable, I have only myself to blame.  My inner circle -- hell -- I'll walk a desert for them.  But older friends, no longer that close -- unless they put on an event that truly appeals to me -- it's better to simply send Wifey on her own.  When I don't, and instead get wildly annoyed -- well, I tend to exhaust the topic.