by David Herman
I am considered one of “the most vulnerable”, over 70 with a compromised immune system, I have been spending most of my days inside these past few weeks as have a lot of you. I take my wife for groceries and, for the most part, I have stayed in the car.
A friend of mine had given me some old magazines to read some months ago and I had not found the time to read them. I now have the time. The magazines are almost twenty years old, but they are comprised of memories and photos sent in by their subscribers. These memories and photos describe life in an earlier simpler time, mostly ‘20s through the ‘50s.
This year my wife and I celebrate 48 years of marriage and I can still remember, when we told family and friends that we were going to get married, having people say “Are you sure you can afford it right now”, or “Maybe you should wait a few years until you can better afford it”. When I read this little poem, my mind went back to those days 48 years ago. It goes like this:
To Have and Too Old
The bride, white of hair, is stooped over her cane,
Her faltering footsteps need guiding.
While down the church aisle, with wan toothless smile,
The groom in a wheelchair comes riding.
And who is this elderly couple you ask?
You’ll find, when you’ve explored it,
That here is that rare most conservative pair,
Who waited ‘til they could afford it.
– Richard Armour
To be fair and honest, we were also advised that if we waited until we could afford it, we might never take the plunge, so we did get married and it all turned out to be good. As my wife would say: “48 years of wedded bliss, Right Dear?”, to which I dutifully reply: “Yes sir”.