Mark is from Venus!

 

Clearly, Mark is from Venus and I am from Mars.  Our brains have been made differently; we have come from what seems like entirely different universes!  Look for yourselves....are we really from the same planet?



Yes, this is the man that I married, that hat is not coming with us!

For the past year Mark, the girls and I have been commuting to school daily from our lake house.  What this means is lots of time to communicate, check emails, make to-do lists, think and reflect. 

I tend to spend my time thinking about what has to happen next and reflecting on the day, and of course by now you know....making lists.  That is how I survive, without the lists the thoughts vanish as quickly as they arrive. Sometimes, even the lists don’t help, mainly because I don’t always remember to check them. This has caused me a great deal of concern. My friends and family have tried to console me by saying; ‘it is normal’, ‘you have a lot on your mind’, or ‘welcome to 40!’. My short-term memory is horrible, so is my long-term memory – OK, I can’t remember a darn thing if my life depended on it!  Thus... the LISTS!

 

Notice the number of notes on my iPhone!

 

Mark on the other hand has an encyclopedia for a brain and spends his commute, not reflecting, but planning the future. He checks and responds to email, checks face book updates from the group of young families on the move, and books accommodations, reservations, flights etc. - 6 months in advance.  He doesn’t have to update the spreadsheet with the latest booking or write down what he has just done, he just remembers it.  He naturally expects me to be able to do the same, but has come to realize – that this is just not going to happen.  Instead we have come up with a system; Mark emails me his latest trip update, I then read it, update the spread sheet, pay the bill or whatever other action is required of me.  Once I have finished what needs to be done, the email is filed.  If it requires further action, it is marked as unread.  The information does not stay bumping around in my brain for me to be able to retrieve at a moment’s notice. Nor does it remain in my inbox. The thing is my email inbox is a thing of beauty with files, folders, colour codes and clarity. Mark on the other hand, has over 400 random emails from the last 6 months.

While setting up our new Mac, I added Mark's email address...
only 9 of these messages are mine.  The other 424 are Mark's!



To get a glimpse of just how different Mark and my brain is...read on.  A dear friend of ours mentioned that her sister-in-law lived in Paris and might be able to offer us some suggestions for our stay there.  I was to notify her of the dates that we would be in Paris.  The conversation I had with my brain went something like this...hmmm when are we in Paris, I know that Dan is coming to visit us in September sometime, they are going to do Vimy Ridge together and he is going to look after the girls while we are in Paris so that Mark and I can go out for a romantic dinner, I think we are headed to Paris after Vimy, so that would put us towards the middle or end of September, oh, I can’t remember – I’ll have to check the spreadsheet.  (Yes my brain operates in very long, run-on sentences) My outside voice replies to my friend that I will email her with the dates as soon as I have a chance to check the spreadsheet (which I have not done yet, better add it to the list).  Upon my return home, I let Mark know about this latest development and that I have to email the Paris dates.  He responds with, ‘We are going to be in Paris from October 9th-14th, don’t you remember, that is when Dan is coming?’ Clearly, I do not remember, I am from Mars!

Today on the way home, I am contemplating whether I want to read over my report card comments for the third time, I wonder how Meg’s doctor’s appointment went today, I call to check in with Grandma and Papa  and add ‘work on setting up the new Mac and kobo’ to my to-do list.  In the passenger seat, Mark starts reading me an email from ‘Jack and Jill’ – you know the couple that has offered us their house in August and again in December, that is staying at our cottage two weeks this summer – blah, blah, blah. How does he keep all of this stuff in his brain!  Anyway, it is all good news because, they will allow us to use their address to register the ownership for the car that we are buying in the UK because the other ‘Jill’, the one that we are staying with in Chelmsford, that stayed in our cottage last summer hasn’t had a chance to get back to us yet.  Oh and by the way...we can store our luggage with ‘Jack’ in Iceland while we tour around, as that will save us trying to fit it all into a rental car along with the camping equipment. You forgot to pick up the fancy band-aids too, what do you need them for anyway? Venus, ladies and gentlemen....he is from Venus!

OK, this is Mark here. I am editing this blog post and have found one inaccuracy. Lisa says that she is from Mars; I think she also forgot the title of the book!  As you all know, Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus. Now, back to Lisa...

I have spent hours creating and updating the spread sheet on Google and just as many hours making sure we have a backup plan to access it, regardless of the situation we find ourselves in. I need to get my priorities straight, if I don’t remember what hill Jack and Jill live on, I’ll just consult the World Trip Encyclopedia – Mark.  In the mean time I’ve made a note to pick up some `Ginkgo Biloba`, I’ve heard it does wonders for cognitive function and memory!

Psst, Mark here again. I did not tell Lisa that we won`t have internet in Asia. Don`t tell her as it will just stress her out and she doesn`t have any more room in her backpack for `St. John`s Wort`.