Yes we met almost 40 years ago. A coed in a predominantly male university, I had had the opportunity to date many different men. Although on the same campus for years we never met in class. We met instead on the first night of my last summer job. I had the cliché feeling of having known him all my life — a feeling of safety, a feeling of calm, as well as overwhelming lust — not at all my style. Who was this quiet, brilliant man? Why were we able to finish each other’s sentences, why did I feel so much more “myself” around him?
As was the style of the day, we memorized our marriage vows. Later hearing the tape of the ceremony I realized I had omitted the vow “in sickness and in health.” Nevertheless, we both have kept that vow (too many times.) Little did we know some of the sickness would start on our honeymoon. Early on, and then with alarming regularity we have faced health and physical challenges, as well tragic premature loss of family members.
Sometimes I look at the world around me, shake my head, and wonder why. Why are people so very angry and discourteous — so pushy and self absorbed? Why am I still so happy, and in love when so many around me are discontented and divorcing? Sometimes I feel I have been given a gift that I do not deserve. But it was just that chance meeting that has shaped me and sustained me. Without it I feel that I would no longer be.
Still Here Too
