TODAY I AM married to an 80 year old man. Can you believe it? I can't. Inside my head I still feel young. My body betrays me sometime but by and large I still think as if I am at least no older than say 40 or 50 (my two best decades by the way). And there is no way that I can even imagine him being 80 years old. My mind tells me that 80 is OLD. But he will never be old to me.
Why on earth am I married and living with an 80 year old? When did he get this ancient? It was just a few weeks ago, Memorial Day to be exact, that I posted a picture of a 19 year old Marine, with a cute twinkle in his eye in one of those dress Marine uniforms; a Marine that had turned 18 in a foxhole in Korea. Where did he go?
Well we already know he went to Korea. Then he went to Austin, and then he came to Wichita Falls, then he went with me to get a marriage license and then he went with me on a journey that will have lasted 59 years when July 3 arrives. We were joined on this journey by two children, five grandchildren and three great grandchildren. But they dropped off one by one and started on their own journeys. Now only the two of us remain on this last part of the journey along with a cute white schnauzer we picked up along the way. That is how it is supposed to work. We are on a road that we have never traveled and which we will, God willing, travel together for most of the way. I am thankful for that. Thank you God for allowing this journey.
So many things are easier now. The road has become straighter. Not so many burdens to carry. Still worry about those who traveled with us but now realize that our control, if indeed we ever really had any, ended a long time ago. Living together is so much easier on the last part of the journey than it was on the first part. So many things we thought were important are no longer even blips on the radar. We don't really fuss about anything anymore, just sort of smile if one of us is irritable. In other words we now are contented.
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