Today I’m getting personal
The good news this week is personal. It is my anniversay. There ought to be a song somewhere that is worthy but if there is, I don’t know it. You could call it ’40 years with the right woman’ and peg it but even if somebody would write it and then find just the right crooner to sing it, who would listen. Let’s face it , marriage is old news and boring these days. So boring and old that everywhere you go, people are pushing for changes- man marrying man, woman marrying woman, men marrying pets. It is a new world. The old fashioned notion of a man and woman paring up long term to make a life and raise a family is so lame these days. Just like me.
Back in 1972 when I was still trying to be cool and hip, it finally occurred to me that my best shot in life was the woman who had followed me to California and that if I didn’t grab her before she found out what a poser I really was, I might never find another. We got married 40 years ago. No big wedding. Just us, two friends and a minister followed by a small reception at our penthouse apartment in West LA. We honeymooned on Catalina Island. We were real jet setter alright.
The day of the wedding I remember driving to the ceremony listening to Ricky Nelson, complaining about being a has been.
Anyway, forty years with the right woman isn’t all roses and lollipops because the right woman makes you stand up when you want to hide and do what you have to do whether you like it or not.
Nobody ever tells you that the good things in life are the ones you fight for; the ones that don’t just happen. Those good things are what make you forget what you went though to reach the goal. So while I sit here today feeling proud of my marriage, I can’t forget that there were many times I wanted to bail and do something easy. So if there is any good news today, it is to tell you that whatever there is that is keeping you from making the woman who committed to you happy, throw it out. It won’t matter to you in the future but your marriage will.
Congrats on the 40 year mark, that is awesome especially in today’s society. You are in the minority. I have been married for 14 years now and even that is becoming a rarity.
Happy Anniversary Ralph.
Justin,
Just hang in there and try not to piss your wife off too much and you too can make 40. After 25 inertia sets in.