Thinking Outside the Box

Last spring, Paul’s pals threw a surprise birthday party for him.

Some good friends of ours hosted the bash, which was great fun. It featured grilled burgers, cake and a marathon game of “Dance Dance Revolution.” Yes, I even participated!

Surprisingly, Lisa did not.

Another ‘surprise’ from Paul’s birthday party…he received a ‘bonus’ gift from one of his buddies. It was a huge appliance box outfitted with Christmas tree lights, a bit of remnant carpet and a bean bag chair. There is even a stuffed bird of some sort perched atop the structure.

A sentry?

The box was billed as ‘The Man Cave.’ I honestly thought it was meant to be a temporary gift…something to have some fun with for a few hours at the party and then it would go out with the next trash pick-up (or recycle run).

But at the last minute someone said something like “Hey, Paul, you ought to take it home!” And, with that, everything changed.

Next thing I know, he and I are hauling it home and ‘installing it’ in the middle of the downstairs at my house. All the while I’m asking myself the rhetorical question: “Why?”

I think the idea of ‘The Man Cave’ is more important to him than the actual existence of it. Honestly, I think Paul has only been in ‘The Man Cave’ once. It was the day the roofers came last summer. He and Holly were hiding out in the basement while, as Holly described it, they were dodging the sound of ‘the sky falling’ (as the pieces of the roof came flying off).

They sought refuge in the basement that day and holed up in ‘The Man Cave.’ I guess that day it was ‘The Sibling Cave.’ At any rate, there it still sits to this day. Summer turned to fall; fall morphed to winter.

The box still stands.

Before we got the stuff out of the Christmas closet, I said to Paul, “Could you please dismantle the box before we get the decorations out? That way, we’d have much more room to operate.”

“Oh sure.”

The box still stands.

Then, at the end of the holiday season, “Could you PLEASE dismantle the box before we PUT THE DECORATIONS back up?”  

“Oh sure.”

The box still stands.

“Next time the recycle truck runs?”

“Oh sure.”

The box still stands.

At one point, he told me he needed to make sure dismantling 'The Man Cave’ wouldn’t hurt the feelings of the gift giver. But, supposedly, that conversation took place long ago.

And yet…The box still stands.

And you know what? I don’t have the heart to take it down myself. I could be a hard-liner and push the issue. I mean…we really need to steam clean the carpet in that room. The room, itself, really needs a heavy cleaning - vacuuming, dusting, etc - that you just can’t do when maneuvering around an 8 foot box.

Call me a pushover. For now, I haven’t brought the issue back up. Eventually, I will do that and eventually we’ll dismantle ‘The Man Cave’ – probably together – and take it out when the recycle truck is about to make its bi-monthly run down our street.

But for now…tomorrow is another run of the recycling truck and, yet…

The box still stands.

JG

Originally posted 2/23/2012