Violent Agreement

My Dear Princess and Dear Fellows,

Today Lemon told me that stress is a big cause of heart disease and high blood pressure in the PI community.

"Of course, the food doesn't help," she added.

She went on to say that she notices it a lot, even in her family. Men are traditionally stoic and silent. "They just sit and grind their teeth, with one vein pulsing in their forehead when they are stressed," she told me. "It's a problem."

It's strange, because Lemon is one of the most laid-back people I know. To the point where she stresses ME out. "Hit another car on the way to work today," she tells me. "You'd think they'd learn to fold away their wing mirrors, wouldn't you?"

Or, she'll produce a black banana from the bottom of her handbag. "I was WONDERING what that smell was."

But I digress, I asked her if she got her laid-back attitude from her mum, but she said decidedly not so. "Even when we're in full agreement it feels like we are arguing," she told me. Conversations apparently go like this:

LEMON: So Cameron's going to Whakatane next week...
MUM: YES! YES! He SHOULD! He must go!

(This is accompanied by finger-pointing and banging the table).

LEMON: But that's what I just said.
MUM: Well that's GOOD! Because he MUST GO! HE - MUST - GO!!!!
LEMON: And he's going to...
MUM: AND - SO - HE - SHOULD!!!!!

I wondered if I should tell her that my dad is a go-with-the-flow Irishman, more laid back than a stoner in a beanbag. But I didn't want to do anything to increase her blood pressure. Call me culturally sensitive, if you will.

S.