A while ago he mailed a whole bunch of flour tortillas to his daughter who lives way outside homemade tortilla land. Because he put the wrong zip code on the box, they got lost in the mail and when they finally got to her they were all moldy.
So a couple of weeks ago, he bought more. He set them on his kitchen counter. They were fresh from the bakery, packed in plastic bags and it's humid here.
After they had sat on the counter, I said, "If you put them in the refrigerator, they won't get moldy."
He said, "Well, they're going in the mail today."
But they didn't.
Today I saw them on the counter and looked at them carefully. They were moldy. I said, "I think I see a spot of mold on them."
He said with exasperation (not exasperation at me, but at himself), "Yeah, you were right. They're all moldy."
I said, "Why didn't you put them in the refrigerator? They would have kept longer."
He said, "Because I was supposed to get them in the mail."
I said, "But the post office is four miles away. The refrigerator is two feet away."
I'm not asking for a review of what I said to him. I did okay and he didn't get mad at me. I just want an explanation of why he didn't put them in the refrigerator so as to extend their shelf-life and buy more time to GET them to the post office. He often sabotages himself this way. He buys plants and lets them die before he gets them in the ground-- he does this A LOT. Even though the garden is at my house, I've stopped paying for the plants. He does this with lots of stuff. We throw away tons of food at his house.
Anyway, can you explain this thinking to me? I think it has something to do with not wanting to fail, and then feeling like a failure anyway. Thanks.
