Down in the Dumps

Have you ever been “Down in the Dumps?”  I have. I heard the expression this morning – more on that later.

The literal interpretation is gross. I never much cared for going down to the dump.  It is an old expression that has nothing to do with trash. It was in use long before we began calling the place where we “dump” our refuse.  In fact, it has been around since the early 1500s, and Shakespeare himself used the term frequently.

Basically, the idiom “down in the dumps” means to be sad, melancholy, unhappy or depressed.

This morning I was out the door before anyone else was up, for some early appointments.  A bit later, I texted my EC to see how things were going. She told me what she had been doing, and I asked how she was doing.

“I’m down in the dumps.”

That is an infrequent expression for my EC. And one that makes me sad to hear. Her life is complicated and challenging right now, and she has handled it with incredible grace. But everybody finds themselves at the dump now and again.

Because I am wise, I immediately left what I was doing and rushed home with a donut and a 32oz Diet Coke. We talked for a bit, and I made the usual man mistake of trying to solve all the problems with one pass of my manly logic – to no avail.

I couldn’t stay long, as we both had commitments, and I won’t be able to get back to her until this evening.

So, I am turning to my intelligent, witty, and extremely attractive readers to make some comments to help me brighten her day. A spiritual thought, a quote, a joke, a personal humiliating experience that we can all laugh at, etc. (No, you don’t need to express sympathy for what she goes through being my wife – believe me, she is well aware of what that implies.)

Hopefully, my blog has brightened an occasional gloomy day for you – if it has, consider this payback.

Thanks!