Communication

What you hear and what is said is not always the same thing. I was reminded of this, this afternoon when I received a frantic phone call from my grandson.

He said, "Grandpa, can you help me change a tire?"

I said, "Sure, but you have to do all the work because I cannot lift anything or bend over due to my eye surgery."

He said, "Fine, I will be right over."

We live on a hillside, so when he arrived I told him to move his car down to the front of the house where it is level. He looked at me strangely, and said why to which I replied that we needed to have the car level in order to change the tire otherwise it might fall off the jack.

He continue to look at me strangely, at which point I noticed that he was holding a tie in his hand.

"To tie a tie?", he replied.

At which point I realized that he was talking about a tie and I was talking about a tire. Yes, he rushed over so I could help him tie his tie, not change his tire.

Attempting to recover some dignity, I looked at Mrs. Critter and said, "See, you are not the only one I don't understand".