A Little White Lie

That last post made me think of something. I told a coworker a couple of weeks ago, right before my magnificent vacation with my beautiful girlfriend, as I was drinking a half-sized can of Shasta cola, that it was the first soda I had had in months, and the caffeine was making my act silly. It was a complete lie. Not only was it a lie, but it was a lie that served no purpose. I just said it to hear myself say it.

It reminds me of my sister. She told this story once about talking to a customer; I hope it's okay if I share. The guy took a pen out to write something down, and my sister, as she tells it, just goes on and on about how his pen reminds her of her favorite pen, her 'lucky pen' as she claimed to have called it and how she lost that lucky pen, and oohhh... it was a good pen. Anyways, she doesn't have a lucky pen. Although she may now, that story was from a long time ago. For all I know though, it never happened... I mean it is a story about lying to someone, maybe she made it all up.

I could see that happening. I daydream a much more exciting life than I actually lead, so sometimes I'll try to pass it off as reality. For instance, one time very early in my relationship with my girlfriend, she sent me to 7-Eleven for candybars - I'll admit the conversation probably went something like this:

Tiff: Hey, can you get me something to drink while you're up.
Me: Okay, twist my arm, I'll go get some candy, maybe some ice cream too.

I eat a lot of ice cream. Anyways, there was a cop at the 7-Eleven and I had a headlight out in my car. So, I imagined this whole scenario where the cop followed me out of the store and then we both got in our cars and he tailed me the whole wayhome, in the end deciding not to pull me over because I'm such a good driver, but now my car was marked by the police and I would have to drive extra carefully from now on. A bit extreme perhaps, but as I drove back the story replayed in my head over and over, becoming more and more real. By the time I returned to my girlfriend, I had all but convinced myself it was true, and, wearing it on my face, I told her that I had been tailed by a cop. She believed me; she was worried for me... for days

On a Friday I told her the truth... "Yeah, that never happened..." I think that time she just laughed and rolled her eyes. Since then I've learned she doesn't quite like that... I'm always learning.