Her Majesty and I went to mass this morning, the same way we began our journey together fifty years ago today. It's true what they say, "In the blink of an eye". One has to be an oldster to appreciate this phrase.
Our celebration will be low key, the same way we've kept our lives. As is typical this comes from my better half. She's always been the non emotional type. I'm not but that's another story.
We'll go out to dinner then home by seven pm. We've gotten in the habit of hitting the hay around 9. We both like this.
Last night, while lying in bed, we did some reflecting on our lives together; what we remembered most. Of course, the births of our three children immediately came to mind. When the children were young our Christmas's were not what one would call a trip to Macy's. We didn't have much money. We'd decorate our tree with strings of popcorn and cranberries. Ornaments we're handmade. For awhile I tried making the Queen gifts. They were cheesy and looked awful but she was nice and didn't say negatives.
We moved a lot due to my coaching career; six times in ten years. Only once did she put her foot down and said no. We'd only been in this one town for 8 months with two small children. I gave in to her wishes. I got over it though.
My wife is a success story beyond the scope of normal people. She'd kill me if you all knew this but since she doesn't read this blog I'll go ahead. The Queen was an educator. In the 70's she started the first program in Iowa for preschool handicapped, emotionally disturbed children with an emphasis on autism. We moved to Ohio in 1989. She took a teaching job and started the same program for Ohio as she did in Iowa. In other words, in this field she's quite famous. No one would know, though. She keeps her yap shut.
Yeah, we've had our ups and downs. What married couple of fifty years hasn't? We have never had a knock down drag out. We don't fight. If one of us is more than upset we'll get in the car and take off until cooler heads prevail.
This morning, after mass, I had asked my neighbor if he would come over and take a couple of photos of us. As is typical of the situation I asked my wife where we should have the picture taken. As soon as she said, "Hey, it's your thing. You decide". In other words, she was butting out. After 50 years I knew this was a ruse. What she was actually telling me was, "In a few minutes I'll take over". My suggestion was to have the photo shot down the street where there are still green bushes and green leaves on trees. She said we should have it in the house. Then she wanted to know if we should have it taken standing in front of the couch or in front of the piano. All the while my mind is saying, "I really don't give a s*hit. Let's just take the damn picture". Finally she decided to have us sitting on the couch.
All this coming from the person who had said the picture thingy was all on me.
For you young folks I'm offering a bit of advice on how to make a marriage last. You have to learn to pick your battles. Also, your wife always wins.
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