Husband of the Year

My wife and I are celebrating our seventh anniversary today. The following joke epitomizes our relationship.

My wife and I were comparing notes the other day. “I have a higher IQ, I did better on my SATs, and I make more money than you,” she pointed out.

“That’s all true,” I said, “but if you’re so much smarter than I am, why weren’t you smart enough to marry up?”

I’m a good but not great husband. (My wife would agree with that assessment.) But it’s not my fault. It’s just the way I’m wired. I spend way too much time thinking about numbers and shapes. While listening to her story about a really frustrating colleague she’s been dealing with, I’ll begin to daydream of triangles. Awakened when she asks, “Can you believe that?” I garner no good will when I respond, “Of course not. I mean, who would have thought that the first two Brocard points are isogonal conjugates?”

Still, I’m not as bad as this guy…

A mathematician drives to his colleague’s office early one morning, and they start discussing a problem that he’s been working on. They talk and talk and talk, making good progress. Around noon, the colleague says, “I’m hungry. How about we continue this conversation over lunch?”

They spend a long lunch discussing the problem further. They then return to the office and continue talking. Before they know it, it’s dark outside. The colleague says, “I’m getting hungry again. Should we continue this conversation over dinner?”

The mathematician thinks for a minute. “No,” he says, “I better not. My wife’s waiting in the car.”

Happy anniversary, Nadine. The first seven have been wonderful, and I’m looking forward to the next seventy.