‘I Told You So!’

There is that part of life when you acknowledge that you are grateful for that one person you were chosen to unite and entangle together. We hear of phrases ‘two in one’ or ‘three in one’ but this time it is ‘many in one.’

How possible is it that when my car changes the slightest sound or any technical issues, my wife is the first one to detect it? It is amazing but it is true.

As we were approaching our long Eid holidays, she needed to get some groceries and so we drove together to the supermarket, shopped a fully heaped trolley, and were ready to go back home.

As I started the car, she told me that there was a different sound and hesitation as my car was starting. She insisted that we pass by and check on the battery since it was what she “thought” was the problem. She always pretends to know more about cars.

You see sometimes as men we go through rough times, especially during the holiday seasons. We always need to provide our families with outfits, groceries, and outings to mention but a few. Therefore, when another problem arises, we rather try to push it further yet we know it's “unavoidable.”

Back to my narration, I told her that we would tackle the problem the following day. However, she still insisted and reminded me that public holidays were beginning the following day and probably shops would be closed.

With all the explanations, I still did not pass by the car electrician to check on the car and I motivated myself saying it would not be a battery problem because I had just replaced it nine months back. I took a chance and I said to myself “What may come, I am not going to push myself to do so.”

She was dead silent. I know that reaction from her. Whenever she insists on something and I do the opposite, she lets me be but she prepares herself to tell me, “I told you so!” This is of course in a negative and mockery way.

That day we reached home safely, I parked my car, and I was so happy that it did not cause me any problems.

The following morning, on the actual Eid day, my car was not starting. The battery was dead. I could not use it for the first three days of Eid because shops were closed.

I, unfortunately, had to rent a car, which cost me more than the price of a battery plus fuel expense.

The look in her eyes was a bit strange. Sometimes I felt she was pitying me but on the other hand, it’s like she was having the deepest laughter from within and even though she did not say it verbally, I could still hear the words: “I told you so.”

Just to make this case pass peacefully, I reminded her of a few words from the song ‘I told You So’ by Randy Travis.

Here are the words.

I told you so, oh, I told you so

I told you someday you'd come crawling back and asking me to take you in

I told you so, but you had to go

But now I've found somebody new and you will never break my heart in two again

Anyways, from now on, I have totally surrendered. The next time she warns me of technical issues or any other kind of problem, I will obey with gratitude because a stitch ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’