My husband texted me from his long haul flight today, telling me he’s sitting next to a guy who's really nice. Interesting, too. The next text reads, “Bradley Cooper!"
Yeah! THAT Bradley Cooper! You know, from “American Sniper" and “The Hangover.”
Then my hubby rubs salt in the wound and texts that the actor is even better looking in person. Fifteen hours. Side by side with gorgeous, interesting, nice Bradley Cooper. And I’m here at home. Grounded. Missing it all.
I imagine the two of them making awkward small talk at first and then launching into life stories, discussing wives (Is he even married?) and kids (Does he even have any?), clinking glasses and laughing. They quickly become new BFF’s who will, in my imaginings, give a bro hug when they land, snap a photo to remember this serendipitous meeting, and make loose plans to grab dinner the next time my hubby is in L.A. (Does Bradley even live in L.A.?) Oh, and they’ll invite their wives this time (if he has one).
Or maybe they didn’t exchange more than a glance and a hello. Maybe they just fell asleep and then parted ways in silence. I have no idea what really happened because they’re still airborne. So my mind fills in the blanks. It’s what we all do when we don’t know the whole story.
This kind of imagining doesn't matter in this case when it's all fun and fantasy, but it makes me think about the times we do this when it does matter. A lot. Beware of the blanks in life and how you fill them in because sometimes they lie to us. They can wrongly convince us that he is having an affair. Or she "forgot" do something important on purpose because she doesn’t care about us. Or the boss is sabotaging us.
This is most dangerous when you think you know someone's motivation, which is when we are most prone to these imaginings. It's too easy to be wrong and there’s usually more to it than we know, even when we are convinced we know it cover to cover. Handle the blanks with thought and care. Unless they're about spending fifteen hours on a plane with Bradley Cooper, the man I am quite sure is now my hubby's new best friend.