Marriage
Lawrence Raab
Years later they find themselves talking
about chances, moments when their lives
might have swerved off
for the smallest reason.
What if
I hadn’t phoned, he says, that morning?
What if you’d been out,
as you were when I tried three times
the night before?
Then she tells him a secret.
She’d been there all evening, and she knew
he was the one calling, which was why
she hadn’t answered.
Because she felt—
because she was certain—her life would change
if she picked up the phone, said hello,
said, I was just thinking
of you.
I was afraid,
she tells him. And in the morning
I also knew it was you, but I just
answered the phone
the way anyone
answers a phone when it starts to ring,
not thinking you have a choice.
You always have a choice. Just as my parents chose each other, and more importantly, chose to stay together for five decades, raise seven children and oversee a ever increasing brood of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
My parents have been married fifty years. Today is the launch of our family celebration and reunion, and tomorrow evening is their anniversary party for friends and community.
Half a century spent with another person, by choice, is an amazing accomplishment. Even more so when you still look forward to spending time with that person, when you still care enough to argue, when passion still stirs, when shared silence is comfortable.
I am so happy and grateful our family has the opportunity to share our parents' anniversary.
No comments:
Post a Comment