That’s
a long time to get to be married.
Today,
Judy and I have now been married that long, ten years, on top of the fifty
years we were already. We have been celebrating being “Golden”, being
married for 50 years, all this time. Fifty was such a big
milestone. It seems like 60 came so fast! We could be “Diamond”
now, but Golden feels so warm and familiar, we’ll just continue to celebrate
that each day. We considered a fine dinner at an expensive restaurant to
celebrate this occasion. We settled on just the two of us, at Brazos Bend
State Park (with steak and lobster on a grill, and a champagne toast).
Our
thoughts are all over the place, marveling at the transition sixty years ago,
from being apart for so long, then suddenly back together every minute of every
day. Quiet. Pensive. Sharing. Me returning from two
years isolation overseas, and within hours back to the familiar embrace of
family, friends, the neighborhood, and Judy. For her, that long lonesome
wait, everything the same for her only different, wondering what I was going
through, and would everything be okay when I got back. We reunited and
the years apart melted in a moment, the memory of them a reminder to cherish
what we have in the present.
“Until
we’re old and eighty.” We’ve achieved that. Now we’re “Old and
eighty. And beyond.”
