Opus 2026-416: Blindness outside the Refrigerator

I’m sure that you have heard the phrase “male refrigerator blindness”.  I would suggest that out of sensitivity we need to change that to “XY refrigerator visually challenged.”  But that is neither here or there.

I like to talk about “female refrigerator blindness”.  The reason for that is that there’s so many things that my wife isn’t able to find in the refrigerator or things that she sees that just don’t reflect reality.  It makes me think of how we tend to be sensitive in some areas and obtuse in others.

For instance, when I come into the kitchen in the morning and see that little blue light at one end of the dishwasher panel and that’s the only light on the dishwasher, I know something.  I know that the dishwasher has been run.  After nine years with this pattern, I don’t think my wife understands it yet.  I’ve also noticed from experience that if I open the door and close it all the way, the light goes out.  Thus, if a curious member of the family comes and looks inside the dishwasher to see if it’s been run and then pushes the door closed, there is no way I would know it has been run.  If on the other hand, you open it and just bring it up close to closing, but don’t push it home the light stays on.

These are things that I noticed.

When it comes to dust in the corner of my room, be it on the floor or the ceiling, I am totally oblivious.  The only way I know there’s dust on my bookshelf is when the grandchildren come over and write their names in it.  There are certain things that I don’t notice.  Much of it’s because I don’t care.  If I did notice it, I would look the other way and try to forget.

Male refrigerator blindness is a thing.  I know from experience.  I remember looking for the ketchup.  I don’t know how many times I went through the entire refrigerator.  There was no ketchup.  Then my wife told me, from the other room, it’s on the top shelf in the front.  I opened the door and, lo and behold, there it was.  I know she didn’t have a chance to sneak by and put it there.  My only conclusion is, male refrigerated blindness.  I’m guessing that I myself did not want the ketchup that she had sent me to get.  That might account for part of why I did not see it, I didn’t want to see it.  I didn’t need it.  It was still there.

We won’t go into things like needing a haircut, socks that have holes in them, your collar is crooked or so many other things.  Those are obvious.

I always like that button that had the acronym that stood for, “please be patient with me God is not finished with me yet.”  It fits so many holes in my resume.

homo unius libri