Forty Years? Really?

We really must have been that young! O.O

I don’t usually post on Sunday, but today is a rather special day for the hub’s and I. Forty years ago today, we were married. Yup, those two painfully young people are we. Us? The happy couple.

I am not posting this to brag. To tell the truth we were both surprised when we did the math on how long this anniversary was. And we did it twice. With a calculator.

It’s not like we thought we wouldn’t still be married. To tell the truth, I don’t think we thought we’d get this old, because Science would uncover the secret to long life. Okay, that still leads to old, but we wouldn’t be old. We’d be venerable, well preserved. Or something that isn’t old. Without the really big numbers.

And if we look like we had no idea what we were getting into, well, that would be truth-in-looking. Because we didn’t have a clue. When you embark on Grand Adventures, a certain amount of ignorance is probably a good thing.

We’ve had highs. We’ve had lows. We have exchanged more than one cross word. We’ve even gone to bed mad at each other (once the hubs fell asleep IN THE MIDDLE of a fight). The hubs regularly asks strangers to make sure he gets an autopsy if he dies suddenly and believes that I’ve “killed” him more than once in my books. (I haven’t. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. And this is my blog.)

The day before our anniversary we had this exchange:

Him: Did you notice I cleaned all the trash off my desk?

Me: Great. Did you also empty the trash in the kitchen?

Him: Trash day isn’t until Tuesday.

Me: It’s creeping across the counter.

Him: Trash day isn’t until Tuesday.

Me: If you don’t empty it today, there might be something extra in there for the trash guys.

Him: They’d notice.

Me: Not if I package you properly.

Then he proceeds to make the case for why I should “let” him live longer. He was on a roll until he countered himself with the case for why I’d get more money if he died before he turns 65.

Yeah, he makes me laugh. Though if I end up going to jail, he’s going to have a very long eternity to regret that.

You think I am worrying without cause? One morning I saw some spots on the rug.

Me: What’s that?

Him: [guilty slide of eyes to the side] What does it look like?

Me: Blood, but it couldn’t be—

His expression tells me not only could it be, it is.

Me: What happened?

Him: I took off my infusion set and blood started spurting all over. I thought I got it all cleaned up.

Me: blink, blink. You realize if they bring one of the black lights in here, it will look like Lizzie Borden’s mother died in your chair?

So if you’re looking for the secret to a long and happy marriage, I haven’t got it. I only know we made it. Not exactly sure how. I know it helps that we make each other laugh, that we love each other, that we still LIKE each other (yes, that still matters) and no one has died yet. That last is a biggie for a long marriage. You have to actually grow old.

Here’s how we look now. Really. I wouldn’t lie to you. That is us up there and that is us down here. With forty years in between.

We earned every line and sag….

Excuse me while I go check that math one more time….

Perilously yours,

Pauline