This transcription was tough to do because of so much restaurant background noise, but there’s enough in the recording to make it worth sharing after all this time. It was recorded almost ten years ago now.
[indiscipherable conversation/background noise]
Patrick: “…which is a plus in my book.”
John: “Being uncomplicated?”
Patrick: “Yep”
Christine: “I think I’m complicated.”
Patrick: “You probably are.”
Christine: “Do you think I’m complicated, John?”
John: “Yes, or complex.”
[eating/clattering noises in background…]
Christine: “But?”
Patrick… “Until you meet Vera you don’t know what complicated is.”
John: “Ah, yeah.”
Christine: “Who’s Vera?”
Patrick: “She’s a friend of mine.”
Patrick: “Or Eva Pierce. Or Hanna Sax.”
Christine: “By complicated, do you mean difficult?”
Patrick: “Yeah, there’s no way to…. There’s no way…. It’s whatever you do is okay. It’s always something.”
Christine: “Oh. No. No. I’m not that way. Thank God I’m not. Thank someone I’m not. Or something. No, you’re right, I’m not. And I make a point not to be; because, who wants to be around someone like that?”
Patrick: “Exactly. Jack likes it, her partner in life. They finally got married after all of those 40 or 50 years because of the laws of inheritance. If you’re married and she dies. (She’s older.) If they’re not married, he would pay a lot of tax.”
John: “I remember you said that after all that you went through, all the stuff after Stephanie died, they ran down and got married.”
Patrick: “Un huh.”
Christine: “No. And, I think, from my point my point of view, not being complicated means that I try to appreciate the natural beauty in most things, everything. I think when you’re “complicated” it means you’re sort of self-centered, you only think about what makes you happy and not much about what makes anyone else happy.”
Patrick: “Yeah. Only when it’s necessary to keep them in line.”
Christine: “And that’s manipulation.”
Patrick: “Yep!”
(Listen to the original recording - 141008-094138-patrick-being-uncomplicated.mp3)
I’m the son of Patrick of Meadows.