My wife and I have been married for twenty-eight years. We have two adult children, and six grandchildren. We have had our hard times. All marriages do. At one point we even thought it may be over. . . not because there was a lack of love in the relationship, but because we were being so brutal to each other something had to give.
At around the twenty-year mark we pretty much decided that the previous twenty years of arguing had been a complete waste. Our differences were not the horrible thing we thought they were. Opposites attract for a reason. Rather than battle over our differences, were realized that our differences could make us stronger. We compliment each other. My strengths are her weaknesses, and my weaknesses are her strengths.
She knew me before I knew her. As the story goes, she had a crush on me in high school and wanted to meet me. We had a mutual friend so I got invited to a Halloween Party that was supposed to be an all-girl affair. I dressed up as Alfalfa, and she went to the costume party as a cheerleader. When I laid my eyes on her it was literally love at first sight. We danced all night to the song "Endless Love" by Lionel Ritchie and Diana Ross. When I needed to leave, we kissed for the first time on the walkway of our friend's house.
While I was dancing with my future wife, another girl was upset in the other room. Apparently, she liked me too, but I was unaware of the extent of her affections, nor was I concerned about them as I danced with my new love in the other room.
On the following Monday at school I asked the future Mrs. Pistachio if she wanted to go out with me, and she said, "No."
I was devastated. How could we enjoy such a wonderful night together, and then act as if it meant nothing?
The truth came out years later. She was a senior, and I was only a junior, and girls did not date at school boys in a lower class. We saw each other, flirted, and even went out a couple times, but she never officially went out with me. Finally, a couple months after she graduated, while we were on a date, I asked her again, and this time she said, "Yes."
I spent my senior year jumping the fence at lunchtime to spend lunch with her (on the days she wasn't working) and we went out nearly every night. Nearly a year after we officially began "going out," we got married, and I shipped off to bootcamp in the United States Navy a week later. Nearly nine months after that our honeymoon baby was born, and three months after that we met the biggest challenge our relationship would ever face. . . My Death.
But that is a story for another time.
In the meantime, Happy Valentines Day, and may your time with the love of your life be as treasured as mine is with my Valentine of over 28 years.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
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