Advertisement We do have a thing about numbers ending in zero especially when we’re dealing in years. The reality is, it doesn’t much matter if the number is 29, 30 or 31 after being married that long, I guess I can be pretty confident in thinking that it was a pretty good idea.
The fact that Gayle hasn’t packed her bags or mine I’ll take as an indication that she probably agrees.
Either that or she really doesn’t like getting up at 5 a.m. to take the dog out.
A few years ago, we did talk about having a 30th anniversary extravaganza if I recall, it was shortly after the 25th anniversary bash we didn’t have. But as they say, life happens even when you’re making plans and here we are, all married up with no place to go.
But, on the other hand, we didn’t have to find somebody to come over and take the dog out.
Somehow, it feels like it worked out right. By most folks’ standards, we’ve never done too well with anniversaries starting with our first: when Dad invited us over for dinner so I could make the dinner, then help him unload three wagonloads of hay.
At least there was no hay to unload this year.
I guess, 30 years into it, being married isn’t something I think about a lot, it’s something that just is. Sort of like my shoe size part of what I am and not likely to change. And like a new pair of shoes, right off the bat, it did take a bit of getting used to, but over the long haul, it seems to be a pretty good fit.
That’s something I really didn’t give much thought to three decades ago we stood up there in front of God and everybody saying, “I do, I do, I do,” and had no real idea of what we were getting into. All we really knew was that it seemed a good idea at the time and the arrangement seemed to work out pretty well for our parents, grandparents and a goodly number of the people we knew.
Well, I don’t mind saying that the honeymoon was fun, and it didn’t take all that long for life to slide into a fairly comfortable routine. We got the “he does” and “she does” down pat he changes the oil, she changes the sheets.
We took one day at a time and next thing we know we’ve lived in two apartments and four houses, had four dogs, raised two kids, gone through a dozen cars, half a dozen sets of dishes, four refrigerators, many yards of carpet and one swing set. It’s made the good times better; the bad times easier and on an ordinary day, it’s nice to have somebody to sit down to dinner with.
I see there are whole library shelves full of books spelling out how this marriage thing has to be done often written by folks who’ve had two or three marriages themselves, so they ought to know.
So, if somebody is looking for a secret formula for wedded bliss, I’ll respectfully refer you to the card catalogue, although I’m pretty skeptical of finding romance in the Dewey Decimal System. But then, if it’s romance you’re after, maybe a wedding is the wrong place to start looking.
Now remember, I did say the honeymoon was fun, but there are only so many days of wine and roses a budget and liver can survive. It’s all the Tuesdays in Ordinary Time, the workaday days and Thursday eves that tell if “I do” became “I did” or “I didn’t.” Well, after 30 years, I think we did.
So here we are no balloons, no crepe paper, no rented hall or out of tune band. Just another day, pretty much like any other.
All things considered, that makes it pretty special.
Contact Jerome Christenson at (507) 453-3500 or jchristenson@winonadailynews.com. For Jerome’s comments on this, that and something else check out “Up on the wrong side of the bed” at www.rivervalleyblogs.com/jerome/ or go to www.winonadailynews.com.
