I used to have this issue with my wife in our earlier years together. My solution was to tell her "When I see you head out the door, I know we're ready to leave." She pruned-up a bit at being called out on it, but she knew I was right.

quote:

Originally posted by az4783054:
My wife comes from a very large family of siblings and cousins. When it's 'time to go', she feels it necessary to say a long goodbye with a hug and kiss to each one, plus their spouses and their children. This after she's spent several hours with them already.

I don't get up from sitting until she's done, maybe an hour later if I'm lucky. We're over 100 miles from her family (at least those in metro Phoenix) now, which is still to close.

We must be related!

My wife comes from a large family too and each family gathering has a similar goodbye ritual. For any family member who lives in more than a couple of hours away, the goodbye ritual must also include a discussion of 'how nice it was to see you' and 'when are you going to come visit?'.

It's a lose/lose scenario - either you wait and wait and wait or if you are one minute late or delay for any reason when she is ready - YOU ARE LATE > all your fault.

My wife had an uncle who, when the goodbyes started to drag on, would say to his wife, "Dear, we need to go to bed so these good folks can get home." Apparently, it worked like a charm.

I sometimes lie and say that an event is earlier than it really is, so we can be there on time.

I tend to not bother getting ready for about 30 minutes after the gf showers. Depending on who we are going to see this is a blessing since some of her family can annoy me, and I hate two of her friends that we see often. I've even said things like, I just checked the weather and it's supposed to warm up now (when she was dressed for cooler weather) so she will go and change and take longer.

As for leaving to go home, she is oddly good about it. If either of us says let's go, then we get up and go. But the getting ready at home part is the issue.

Wife's family is Italian, they have mastered this art. Not only will it be the longest goodbye ever, but you WILL end up with food, some trinket and if you don't keep your fricken car locked some random piece of furniture.

My only option when any of them were leaving our house was to say goodbye the first three times, then wander off. Generally nobody notice, unless I was needed to load up some piece of furniture we were passing on......

My wife is very good at leaving parties. We often make eye contact, give each other the nod, then sneak out. Getting to the party is a different story....

Around our place we call it a "Southern Goodbye," but it sounds like it's universal.

Of course, we also have the "Leave Three Times" theorem, under which the first and second time we are all in the vehicle won't count, because:

1) she left the curling iron on
2) she left the straightener on
3) did we turn off the stovetop?
4) the back door is unlocked
5) we didn't close the pantry door (dog is a straight up pantry thug)
6) she forgot the tickets
7) she forgot a bag/luggage/part of brain

So I return to car after going in the first time and get to hear her say "Oh, I'm sorry, but could you also check [FITB]?"

Then we leave, unless it's the 3rd full moon after the winter solstice, in which case the Leave Four Times theorem comes into play....

I’ve witnessed this all of my life. Somehow each goodbye provokes another conversation. From saying “we need to go” to the final goodbye can be anywhere from 30min to one hour. I’ve literally had to drag my wife away from her family because they just won’t stop talking.

I have a friend whose husband will tell her they need to get going a few times, then after she continues talking he finally picks her up and carries her to the car while she waves goodbye to us over his shoulder.

I just got back from visiting family in Michigan.

Leaving went like this:

"Well, it's time I hit the road."

Hug brother.

Hug sister-in-law.

Walk out the door, start the truck, hit the road.

Elapsed time: Under 1 minute...

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

Elapsed time: Under 1 minute...

This was a no-wife trip, wasn't it?

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

Elapsed time: Under 1 minute...

This was a no-wife trip, wasn't it?

Yep, had to be wifeless. No other explanation would make sense.

Jim

Yeah, it was. The silence was wonderful!

I had a person that bummed a ride to work with me and was never on time. It got annoying so I started to charge him per trip since he only went in to work several times a week.

Finally, I told him I would only wait until a certain time and if he wasn't there by then, I would leave without him. After the first time I left without him, he was on time or early from then on. I think he was afraid to drive due to his age and at time seemed to be fog bound and sleepy. Sometimes, he would sleep during the drive to work which was about 30 minutes.

He had a PHD in electrical engineering but didn't seem to have any experience applicable to what we were working on. He was a professor at George Washington University and very liberal. Some of our discussions on the way to work made me laugh at times.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

Yeah, it was. The silence was wonderful!

My hearing aids have a spouse setting.