The first one just got me a sweet card...after all, we hardly knew each other, having just met! The second, he took me to dinner at a restaurant on the water in Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn... but movin' right along here, folks!
The third year I was wearing an engagement ring and was about to marry him!!!! OOOHHH...we were sooo in love...
We were planning our lives together, pledging "for better or worse"...(and there has been plenty of both!) We had no way of seeing the future, but in the flush of new love we assured ourselves we were on our way to a "happily ever after" like no other! But how do you make that happen? How do you keep the laughter and the love, the warmth and the companionship going forward and actually live that happily ever after?
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| Our Wedding, 1964 |
Well, I had to look no further than my own family to see how this worked. My parents always seemed like they had just met and fell instantly in love. They held hands, laughed a lot, liked the same things and always made up quickly after a spat. Their love was overflowing and washed over my sister and me like a warm summer rain...sweet and comforting. This was what I knew because by example, this is what they taught me. They were nurturing not only to their children, but to each other. There was an infectious joie de vivre about them that generated happiness and love.
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| My parents in a typical moment! |
Ours was the "fun" house where everyone wanted to come. Where the kids gathered to play and eat my mother's delicious snacks and where my teen-aged friends chose to congregate to learn the new dance steps, experiment with make-up, dream over boys and always count on my parent's wise cousnsel at times when they needed it ...and where my college friends often came to visit even when I was not there! My parent's had it right, and it was from this school that I graduated into my own marriage, taking with me the lessons I had learned from Mommy and Daddy and the way that they treated each other and the way to bring up a family.
My husband's parents' lessons were also a part of our learning how to achieve that happily ever after. They contributed structure and business acumen and the foundation for an entreprenurial way to provide for a comfortable life. They showed us how to enjoy travel and experience the world together. They were not only life partners but business partners as well, and my husband learned respect for a woman's input and expertise.
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| My in-laws on one of their many journeys abroad |
Like my parents, my in-laws were excellent children to their parents...and both of our parents and extended families gave us a religious background which we were free to interpret the best way for us and our future family.
That was the beginning of the road for us...but the formula needed more ingredients to reach our goal...and so we added three fabulous children who have given us our greatest joy...Our two sons and daughter brought us ever so much closer to our goal of that happily ever after....
We then added 3 really teriffic in-law children into the mix...
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| Marc and Cathy |
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| Jonathan and Stefanie |
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| (our) Jonathan and Robyn |
...to this mix there are seven final ingredients...our fabulous,brilliant, beautiful grandchildren...and we've got it...our happily ever after!!!!
So every day may not be perfect, and the years may have taken their toll, but that wonderful mixture of what went into making us the couple that we are is surely worth celebrating...
Happy Valentine's Day, Peter!
My best Valentine's Day Recipe...
make...RESERVATIONS!!!!
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