Hide in Plain Sight

Linda's erstwhile Sunshine (noticeably not a unicorn)

Last night was a rare all-nighter. Even though I'm not much of a sleeper, it's still pretty unusual for me to work all night -- but a client really wanted to sign off on a pretty big proposal before hopping a 6:40 am flight, so that was that.

I posted the words "all-nighter" on my Facebook wall, which Linda clearly misintereted -- responding in the comments section, "which isn't the same as taking all night. Ha ha. That's my favorite Ace quote."

Wait.... Huh?

It took me a minute, but I finally mentally traced her reference back to an old happy hour conversation.

Way back when, during my "Geezer of the Month/Sweatin to the Oldies" phase, we had all been trading perspectives on the merits of Younger Men vs Older Men. (My verdict was "mix and match," if you want to know.) What I said at the time, by way of clarifying one of the much misinterpreted-assets of the geriatric set, was "There is a difference between LASTING all night... and TAKING all night."


This was the conversation Linda meant to reference, so when I explained this all again to her (for at least the third or fourth time), she responded good-naturedly, "Well, no wonder no one laughs when I say it. In my mind, I get it right, and I laugh out loud every time," (she chuckles out loud just thinking about it, in fact).

This isn't the first expression she's mangled. When she and I first worked together in carpetland 20 years ago, the place was teeming with office affairs -- almost, but not all of them, extra-marital. (She and I were among the very few abstainers.)

In most cases, these affairs were carried on right under the noses of the spouses. For example, the bosses would openly take long romantic "conference" trips with the "researchers" (if ya know what I'm sayin), while the wives, along for "vacation time," would hang out at the pool. They all shamelessly flirted and carried on -- everything just short of diving under the tablecloth at restaurants and dialin' zero on the old pink telephone (again: if you KNOW what I'm sayyyyyyin).

All this "transparency" was perpetuated, under the presumable guise "well if we WERE having an affair, we certainly wouldn't be acting like this, would we?"

Of course we all saw right through it, and promptly busted them for doing exactly what they were doing, which was, "Hiding in Plain Sight."

Which Linda has referred to, to this day as, "you know... they are Hiding...in... Open Spaces."