A Reno mother’s dating advice recently devolved into a list of thinly veiled reasons why she shouldn’t have married her husband, Gene.
“All I wanted was her advice on how to make a relationship last,” says Casey Jimenez, a senior at Nevada State College. “But six hours later, I knew wayyy too much about my dad.”
Casey was home for a visit to help her mother Deborah send out invitations for her upcoming 25th wedding anniversary. Casey, who’s been dating someone casually for a few months, asked Deborah for her advice about whether or not this guy was worth the commitment. “At first she told me generic things, like ‘When you know, you know,’ and ‘Relationships should be easy,’” says Casey. “Then she started saying more ominous stuff, like ‘Make sure he’s right for you before you have kids, even if you’re already married,’ and I was like, wait, who is this advice really for?”
“It’s important to have good communication,” Jimenez reportedly said while hand-addressing the envelopes. “For example, when your father and I were first married, we fought about how to load the dishwasher and he left for a day or so and I thought things were over and I felt a huge rush, like a weight lifted,” said Deborah, “but then he came back.”
Casey, half hoping the conversation was over, re-upped her focus on stenciling the zip codes as fast as she could, but her mother was not done yet. “I started telling her more about this guy’s good qualities, how he volunteers every Sunday, but she cut me off.”
“And you have to find someone who has the same goals as you,” Deborah added, “because I thought I’d have seen the world by now but your dad thinks it’s a vacation when we go to the nice movie theater downtown. I don’t even like movies.”
A silence followed, interrupted only by the sound of mom and daughter shaking tiny confetti top hats into their respective envelopes.
“All I can say is you should be with someone who agrees about children,” Deborah said before adding, “I would have had four kids, but your dad didn’t want any!”
“All I asked was if she thought he looked like Miles Teller,” says Casey, quietly. “Now I’m thinking about the brothers and sisters I could have had.”
“That’s when I told her that I hadn’t seen my dad the whole time I’d been home,” says Casey.
“Oh who knows where he is,” Deborah responded when asked where her husband was. “Probably in the garage watching TV. I told him to clean off the patio chairs but apparently I’ve made a huge mistake and I’m too old to strike out on my own,” Deborah responded, sealing the last of the envelopes. “Alrighty! We’re done!”
The Jimenez family will be holding their anniversary celebration next month at the VFW.
