Day 3: Role Reversal

“I’m going to go cut my hair real quick while this downloads.”

My husband just now said this to me before leaving the living room to shave his head, and all I could think was, “Do we even live in the same universe?”

I wonder what it would be like to move through the day with his thoughts instead of mine. To wake up to a Freaky Friday scenario, but instead of switching places with my daughter, my husband and I find ourselves stuck in each other’s world for a day.

For starters, we would both have to call in sick as neither of us could perform the other’s job.

I’d have to drink my coffee black, while he would lose his patience with my five-minute routine of warming my half-and-half in the microwave, adding two even spoonfuls of honey, and then frothing before pouring coffee in the cup. (Or, would we just drink our coffee the way we liked it when we were ourselves? The original Jodie Foster plot-line is fuzzy.)

I imagine how liberating it would be to shower, dry off and dress – and that be it. No hair blow dryer, no flat iron. No concealer to lighten the dark circles under my eyes. No checking and rechecking my outfit from every angle. Just add a belt and go.

(Admittedly, I could go through my day without make-up, or fixing my hair – and have on occasion – but, that’s just not who I am.)

How many times would he have to come back to the house before actually leaving the neighborhood? Would he remember everything on the first go? The package that needs to go to the post office? The flood insurance paper that needs our signature before being dropped off at the insurance agent’s office? The $10 Target gift card that belongs to my daughter’s friend, but was accidentally left at our house? Would he remember to put it in her mailbox before going to the grocery, and then Target to get whatever random school supply must be had by the following morning?

I type this and think, imagine all the things your mind could create if you weren’t storing all the things you need to remember for tomorrow?

Right now, I’m lucky to get a blog post completed by midnight.

I just read this out loud to my husband before posting – sitting here beside him on the couch. When I finished, his first response was, “What was that movie Matt Damon shaved his head for?”

“Elysium,” I said.