by Daddy X
All I’ve got to say is there’s only one possible choice for my favorite thing. My one, positively,
absolutely first, definitely A-1, decidedly mostest bestest favorite thing is …
Momma X.
At Santa Cruz Pier, Winter 2012
What a babe.
We met in high school and married six months after she
graduated. I’d made it through the same school the year before—1963. She was
the first girl to let me (or any boy) in her pants. Well, if not the first to
actually let me into a pair of undies,
certainly the first with bad enough judgment to let me put “Roger” inside her
actual “Penelope”.
“Roger? I’d like you to meet Penelope. Penelope? This is
Roger.”
What a babe.
When we first met, I was going with another girl. Momma
already had a boyfriend. After school, I’d drive to my girl’s place (she went
to a different school and her parents both worked, the house consequently devoid
of adult supervision… Nyahahahahaa) and make out, sometimes with other couples
scattered throughout the house. We all traveled in the same extended circle, so
one day Momma and her guy were going over to… let’s call her Jeanie… Jeanie’s
house, after school. I was to give Momma a ride.
That day at school, a story began about some girl who’d been
hurt in gym class. She’d been taken to the hospital. As the day wore on,
Momma’s name kept coming up. She was the girl. She’d been running on the outdoor
track where some wooden bleachers had been shifted around for a football game,
and not situated in their regular places. Momma had been going full tilt, head
down, not paying attention to where she was going. And Bam! Ran into the
bleachers. Eewww. Needless to say, the make-out session never happened for her.
Instead, she had to recover from a concussion. I went to Jeanie’s by myself.
Next day, instead of going to Jeanie’s, I visited Momma at
the hospital and got to know her better, bruised as she was. Then her boyfriend
fucked her best friend while Momma was healing. Jeanie wouldn’t put out. The
rest is storybook. My Prom. Her Prom. Marriage. Nursing each other through
near-death illnesses. Lots of joy. Lots of changes. Fifty years and counting.
Fifty-two if you count the time before we got hitched.
What a babe.
Wonderful story, Daddy!
ReplyDeleteFunny how even the bad stuff, like a concussion, can turn out to have positive consequences. For instance, I probably never would have married my DH if my mom hadn't been dying of leukemia. We were living across the country from one another, but I spent more than a month on the east coast during mom's final illness, and that gave us the chance to get to know each other. Plus it let me see what a loving and supportive guy he was. He hates churches, but I didn't know that when he sat next to me at my mother's funeral and held my hand.
I wish you and Momma many more happy years together.
Good luck requires knowing a great thing when you see it, and going for it full tilt. You have a rare talent for focusing on what's most important to you, and making it work. What could be a greater superpower than that?
ReplyDeleteI've always considered myself a lucky guy. Just the odds of my getting a liver transplant were overwhelming. Of course, you have to open yourself up to receive the good luck. One of the conditions for receiving an organ is having a good support system. Another reason my well being depends on Momma.
Delete50+ years? I feel so young...and out-classed, having "only" been married for 31 and together for almost 34. More power to you for having been able to support each other through everything that life has thrown your way. There's an old Polish song that gets sung at birthdays: Stolat. Roughly translated, it means may you life to be 100 years and always be as happy as today. May you and Momma continue to nurture each other for many more years!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post, Daddy. Lifelong love stories like yours are incredible and awesome. I also love the messiness of how you two got together, and in many of your stories about later years. There's such sweetness in the way stability can sometimes rise from chaos. Cheers to you both!
ReplyDeleteAww.
ReplyDelete