This afternoon, my dear wife, Kay, posted the following on Facebook–presumably about me.
My husband does stuff like messaging ‘on way home’ or ‘leaving now’, and then I’ll see he’s still there minutes and sometimes even hour later. #SlaveToSavingTheWorld
So I thought I’d share with you my reply, which I have since edited a touch here and there, because I’m cool like that.
Einstein was known for being late to meetings. I knew a friend of his who told me that Einstein might be an hour late because he stopped to examine and observe a butterfly on his way across campus. I don’t really spend much time with butterflies. I have, however, walked across a campus more than once. And I can attest to this: There are sometimes many people walking on a campus, and you can’t necessarily tell, just by looking at them, which of them are late. I suggest starting with those looking at butterflies, and asking them whether they are late, or perhaps whether their favorite voice teacher knew Einstein. But I digress.
Of all of the possible reasons for being late, I have experienced several so far. And while I can’t argue that I’ve found the best reasons—some of mine are pretty good ones. But I would remind you of my best late moment ever, which I immortalized in our recent skit called “Late”. I came in late to work and told my (pretty-cool) boss, “I would have been here sooner, but I’m just getting here now.”
She thought it was funny. We laughed. And I didn’t get fired. I still think it’s funny. And it got laughs in the skits show. So there’s that.
One can only wonder at how Albert was so very good at being late that he has since begun to be called The Late Albert Einstein. And where I don’t see that he was any better at it than I am, I honestly don’t feel any sense of a competitive spirit toward him. It is truly fine with me if he gets the bulk of the recognition for such disposition. And as he is, by far, the more famous of us two, it seems only natural that he would be more the poster child for lateness than me—not to mention the fact that I am hardly ever late for a meeting.
I’d say more, but I really hate typing while I’m driving, and typing this much has worn me out.
