By Ginger Truitt
Due to a suddenly heavy travel schedule, hubby was only able to be home for 36 hours out of a four week stretch. He got home from Belize on Thursday night at 11 p.m. and was back at the airport at 11 a.m. Saturday morning. We packed as much as possible into that short time period.
Friday morning he asked if the toddlers and I would like to tag along with him to Indianapolis. He had three businesses to go to, and then we could have lunch before his hair appointment. I asked how long I would be waiting in the car with the kids while he went to each place.
“Only about 15 minutes per stop,” he answered.
“Is that real time or ‘Truitt’ time?” I asked.
I learned many, many years ago that even though hubby is a brilliant man, estimating time is not one of his strong points. It used to frustrate me when he would promise to be home in 20 minutes and then roll into the driveway an hour later. Or he would tell me that it would take about an hour to fix the washing machine, and two days later I was still going to the Laundromat.
I understand things come up and things change, and sometimes we really have no control over time, but it was still a source of frustration. So, I started keeping track and making observations. Eventually I was able to develop a simple formula that helped alleviate my frustration and prevent ridiculous arguments. “Truitt time” is the amount of time stated by hubby, doubled plus half. So, if he says he will be gone for 30 minutes, I automatically calculate in my head that he will be gone for one hour and 15 minutes. If he says a task will take about a day, I know it will really be two and a half days.
Our life has greatly improved since developing Truitt time. The pressure on hubby has eased up, and I no longer foam at the mouth because my expectations aren’t met. Rarely does something take longer than Truitt time, and if it does, I know the reason is legitimate and could not be helped.
On Friday, he calculated 15 minutes per stop, so I calculated 38 minutes per stop and decided it was doable. It turned out that he was correct in one instance. The other two times I waited in the car, entertaining the children for over half an hour, and it didn’t bother me in the least because it was within my realm of expectation.
Our older kids know about Truitt time, and at least one of them lives by it. Hubby has even taken to saying, “Well, this is how long I think it will take, but it would probably be a good idea to figure it in Truitt time.”
Prisoners are lucky that hubby isn’t a judge because all of their sentences would have to be doubled plus half. If he worked in construction, customers would be frustrated that the house they were supposed to move into before Christmas wasn’t actually finished until Easter. Although, from what I hear of the industry, Truitt time might be a common issue for building contractors.
The time we’ve spent in third world countries has done nothing to improve hubby’s sense of time. It’s a little known fact that Belize, Haiti and Nicaragua are actually in the Truitt Time Zone. Entire countries of people have no concept of established time. For example, they say church starts at 7 p.m., but really it starts when everyone gets there. So, considering many folks don’t own watches or clocks, and walk wherever they go, it could be as late as 7:45 p.m. before you hear the first strains of worship music. It’s not a bad thing to live without the stress of time, and we embrace it whenever we travel.
The problems occur when our friends from these countries come to visit us. More than once I’ve had to say, “If you are planning on going to church you really do have to get ready now.” I think they are stymied by the fact that if we are late, we actually will miss the service.
Fortunately, airlines are pretty good at establishing real time. So, I know when hubby steps onto a plane, he really will be home in the allotted number of hours. Right now I am counting down three more weeks until he’s home. Thank goodness his business doesn’t run on Truitt time!
