Mom Knows Best, Always Remember This

We celebrated 53 years of marriage on July 5th. A long time and we went together 2 years and 9 months before that. Two children age 48 and 52 and 4 grandkids  21, 18  and  8 all three boys and one granddaughter  6. This all began on a blind date 10-12-57.When I worked as an assistant to the CEO; the boss did not want to hire a young man named Irvin to be a press apprentice in a printing plant. We took him to lunch at Attmans on Baltimore Street and I, who was assistant to the boss urged him to hire Irvin when he did not want to, because he said that he would not stay long at the job. I told the boss Meyer, to give him a chance. He would stay for 40 years and became a foreman there. He and I became platonic friends, he was engaged to be married and he introduced me to one of his friends. I did not like him and I went home early from the date.

He knew Jerry and he gave him my phone number saying I looked like I might be

'easy.’  He thought that because I was way ahead of the times in 1957, I had a blond streak in my dark brown hair that was really gorgeous and it cost 5 dollars which was a lot of $$$$ in 1957 and it made me look quite sexy. Now everyone has blonde or other colors in their hair; those days few did except in Hollywood or NYC.

So when Jerry called and he mentioned who gave him my name, I declined for 3 calls. Finally, dear mom, said give him a chance, you have nothing to lose and the rest is history. God bless blind dates; now there are internet and email meetings of people, things are so different.

I know several young women who met their husband on an online dating service. There you get to see who is calling you and the procedure seems to be that the guy looks over all the girls in his vicinity and he sees their profile and their pictures. One of these young ladies who met her husband of four years and he said he thought she looked too beautiful for him, but he called her anyway and they clicked and the rest is a very delightful marriage. Another one I know met her husband there and he is from upstate New York and he was going to law school here.  They just had their first child after four years of marriage and they are very happy.

I know of a young fellow who went online looking for someone to correspond with on unusual comics that he liked. He connected with a young woman who was five years older than him and she and he wrote emails for several years. She thought of him as her little brother because of the age difference. She flew in once to his home city and they met in person.Then he flew at Christmas time to meet her family and on New Year’s Eve he proposed to her. On Valentine’s Day she flew in and he bought her an engagement ring and they were officially engaged. They married in her home state of Kansas and she moved here and they are very happy and they just bought a nice home. Both have jobs here and she is expecting their first child. This was really a long distance romance.

They say there is someone for each and every one. You just have to find each other. Now because of computers, the Internet and emails, it is easier than in my days of the nineteen fifties.

In my case, the old adage of always listen to your Mom was correct. Fifty seven years have passed since Columbus Day, October 12th  1957 and here we are still together, another rarity, since divorce is often the case now. My husband jokes that he should go to the grave of the guy who thought me easy and tell him thanks.

There used to be a television show called Father Knows Best, I say Mother knows best for real. This is written by Henri Nouwen: “ Patience is a hard discipline. It is not just waiting until something happen over which we have no control: the arrival of a bus, the end of rain, the return of a friend or the resolution of a conflict. Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste here and now to be where we are. Let’s be patient and trust that the treasure we look for is hidden in the ground on which we stand.”

We all had the patience to meet our beloved and we are grateful for that.