RANDOM THOUGHT #7  MARRIAGE

On Sunday, November 6,1954, about two weeks before her 15th birthday, Barbara Roberts (me) went to an evening church service (which she never did because she ice skated on Sunday evenings and nearly every other evening). David Pine, who regularly went to Sunday evening church, noticed Barbara Roberts, introduced himself, offered to give her a ride home to save her parents a trip, and three and a half years later, one Saturday in June 1958, they (we) were married.

That’s 60 years of marriage as of this week. And let me tell you, those 60 years, like the universe itself, hold more objects of reality than can be counted, and like the universe, our marriage has relied on a few forces to hold things together. Marriage forces such as loyalty, commitment, humor, forgiveness and, goodness knows what else, mysterious as the four forces that hold our swirling galaxies together. Oh, there may be a fifth universal force? Higgs Boson? Like the universe, in marriage—always expect something unexpected—work it in. 

Then there’s Love. Love of the four sorts the ancient Greeks defined: deep and unselfish, friendship, sexual, affection. Those have been great. And while I don’t know how the Greeks categorized expressions opposing love, I do know it’s likely the two of us have expressed or experienced many of them. That wasn’t always great.

It’s just that, this week we say, “60.” When I think the number “60” I’m more inclined to think that is the age of my father not my marriage; or that 60 is a good number for minutes needed to cook Italian slow-braised oxtails, or that I counted at least 60 apples last year on our Honey Crisp tree, or that it is a highly composite number.  But this week, “60” numbers the years of Dave’s and my marriage and this week, I’m thinking about that. This week, I am ever, ever, grateful.