

Well, the context I was thinking was routine travel.
If I had plans with a friend, and they had something big to tell me, I’d be ok with them saying we needed to talk when I got there.
I’m thinking more along the lines of:
It’s Wednesday, I’m at work, and my wife calls me in the middle of the day to tell me we have to talk when I get home.
Or conversely, I’m at home, and my boss calls me to say I should come to his office so we can talk when I get in.
My parents chose each other. My mother chose my father to get away from her mother.
My father is an only child who isn’t used to not getting his own way. If you had asked me 30 years ago, I would have said she’d eventually divorce him or murder him.
For a long time, he’d leave her alone so he could go out and ride his motorcycle, and she was miserable because she was stuck at home alone.
Now he’s too old to ride so he’s home all the time. He’s definitely crossed into “elderly”, and he’s having serious health issues. He’s depressed because he thought he’d be young forever, and he can’t accept the reality. He won’t do anything to improve his situation. He just sits around saying he’d rather be dead. So now my mom is miserable because she’s stuck at home with him.
Despite all that and the hostility they’ve expressed to each other over the years, I’d say they are perfect for each other.