Dave Sedaris’ Older Sister

April 15, 2008 at 4:50 am (Conversations, Writing)
Tags: humor

God love Dave Sedaris. For this evening he’s saving self from most abject depression. You see, dear blog readers, self had an awful class at xxxx community college. And afterwards she had to hot-foot it to her other job at NDNU. And somewhere in between Los Altos and Belmont, she had this thought:

What is it all for?

Indeed.

Then, after dinner this evening (leftover hamburger patties, thank goodness hubby kept mum), self found herself struck by a particular passage in one of his books, this one having to do with the husband of Dave’s older sister (whose name is Henry). And it is such a very interesting description. Here it is, dear blog reader.

* * * *

From Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, p. 146 (“Repeat After Me”)

Of all the elements of my sister’s adult life — the house, the husband, the sudden interest in plants — the most unsettling is Henry. Technically, he’s a blue-fronted Amazon, but to the average layman, he’s just a big parrot — the type you might see on the shoulder of a pirate.

* * * *

And the thought occurred to self — the thought just hit her, in fact — that the way Dave Sedaris views brother-in-law Henry (Note: Dave equates him with a “big parrot”) is possibly the same way Dear Bros view self’s husband aka “Hubby.”

For instance, when self was in Tel Aviv (a scant week or so ago), self had this most enlightening conversation with Dear Bro in the apartment on Ruppin Street (This was when self and Dear Bro were still talking):

Dear Bro: Why does xxxx keep changing jobs? If I were his boss, I wouldn’t hire him.

Self: Well, in America there is no such thing as “job loyalty.”

(Ha ha ha ha ha ha!)

Self: Besides, I have a friend whose husband hasn’t worked in four years.

(Actually, self’s friend’s husband hasn’t worked in more like six years: the awfulness of this fact is such that self is momentarily rendered speechless, so wrapped up is she in contemplating her friend’s — probably eerie — domestic life)

Self (after short pause): And Cxxx’s husband, Bxxx (our first cousin) has sometimes been jobless for as long as two years. At least, hubby has never been out of work. He may have had short periods of joblessness, but he always manages to work.

Which fact has enabled self to write three books and edit one, thereby enabling self to contribute to the edification of the world (if not of self’s immediate family). But of course, Dear Bro has not read even one of self’s books, so what would he know of such?

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.