I am a truly blessed person. I married one of the greatest women I have ever known 33 years ago and I still pinch myself sometimes. On the other hand...I have never seen her pinch herself.
Fair enough....
Yah...it is not all unicorns and rainbows...and I am grateful for that as well.
We fit together like two left hand gloves...like the worn out battery jammed tight in the stairway smoke detector that lets you know at 2 am it needs to be changed...NOW!
Yessir.... we go together like newspapers and raindrops...yep, our marriage is all of those.
And yet...here we are...just coming off a 6 day visit from our daughter and 2 day visit with our son for Thanksgiving. It is the first time in 5 months since our son had been home.
We hugged and laughed and smiled and after I won Dirty marbles...and braggin rights for the year...the other three argued and whined while I laughed as they fought for 2nd and 3rd...no one wants to be last.
We cooked a 42# turkey...(really it was 24+) for 4 people plus a 13 # ham.
The girls made pumpkin bread and bars.
And me? I made homemade pumpkin pie that was incredible from a recipe I found online. Almost as good as what my Grandma Birginal used to make and sit in the window between the backporch and the kitchen. I loved those pies and it took me back to yesteryear!
You remember that song by Roy Clark...Yesterday...When I Was Young? I find more and more of myself in that song...
We cussed as the Huskers continued to struggle and we laughed at my daughters new Golden doodle. I saw my life changing before my eyes.
56 years ago my dog, Bingo...bit a little girl accidentally...later that day, I saw my Dad load his rifle before he put the dog in the car and said he was taking it out to the Shaeffer farm. He didn't know for years that I saw him load the gun...the same gun that helped put meat in our freezer two weeks ago. Life moved on for decades...no pets..ever again for me.
Until this past week...I had never let any kind of animal take a piece of my heart since that day back in 1964....and now Jaime has brought a little heathen named Rook into my life again and split open the curtain I have had drawn for so long. 10 weeks old and my son, Jake, and I had her fetching a ball and a stick.
Why does time think it has to be a sprint to the finish when you are having a great time?
I cried as my son left for his home.... as I usually do. As I am now...
2 days later I cried as my daughter left...and she cried when I took her 5 pound dog and gave it a hug and said see you in a couple weeks...and my wife cried as well.
How blessed we are that we can shed tears of sad joy knowing all are well while others shed tears of permanent goodbye? We talked about that as we shared time and stories.
I reminded them that their goal should be two fold....old age and happiness!
If they can attain those goals...then their Mom and I will have done a great job. And I will put the emphasis on Robyn doing more than her share of that.
Both have two degrees...Jaime is a CPA and Jake is a computer software engineer. Solid jobs...and yet in this day and age nothing is a given anymore.
When we said our goodbyes, we hugged longer and tighter than we used to.
My wife and I spend more time together now than ever before...perhaps too much.
I am thankful that years ago she took a chance on this old hell-raiser when all her friends and family said to run. She had guys all over the place wanting to go out with her.
She could have ended it all for our relationship with one phone call in June of 1986 when I was in Florida and she was in Nebraska...I am thankful during that phone call she asked me to come home for her brother's wedding. A year later we got married and I am still amazed and happy!
The rest is a Love Story still playing out!
Until next time...Love is so easy to share with others...make someone smile!
Comments(8)