Sunday, October 7, 2007

Is this too much to ask for?

My grandmother sent me a forward about the story of the parents of some guy whose name escapes me. The part of the story that I´m posting here struck me as exactly what I want. "He" doesn´t have to be Catholic, or make any certain amount of money, or even be good with directions. I´d just like someone that wants to figure out how to get there with me.

"Until she was 90, my mother was the driver in the family. Neither she nor my father had any sense of direction, but he loaded up on maps -- though they seldom left the city limits -- and appointed himself navigator. It seemed to work. Still, they both continued to walk a lot. My mother was a devout Catholic, and my father an equally devout agnostic, an arrangement that didn't seem to bother either of them through their 75 years of marriage. (Yes, 75 years, and they were deeply in love the entire time.) He retired when he was 70, and nearly every morning for the next 20 years or so, he would walk with her the mile to St. Augustin's Church. She would walk down and sit in the front pew, and he would wait in the back until he saw which of the parish's two priests was on duty that morning. If it was the pastor, my father then would go out and take a 2-mile walk, meeting my mother at the end of the service and walking her home. If it was the assistant pastor, he'd take just a 1-mile walk and then head back to the church. He called the priests "Father Fast" and "Father Slow."
After he retired, my father almost always accompanied my mother whenever she drove anywhere, even if he had no reason to go along. If she were going to the beauty parlor, he'd sit in the car and read, or go take a stroll or, if it was summer, have her keep the engine running so he could listen to the Cubs game on the radio. In the evening, then, when I'd stop by, he'd explain: "The Cubs lost again. The millionaire on second base made a bad throw to the millionaire on first base, so the multimillionaire on third base scored." If she were going to the grocery store, he would go along to carry the bags out -- and to make sure she loaded up on ice cream."

There is more to the story but that excerpt captures most what I´d like in my life. Two different lives, religions, interests completely intertwined. I know, I know - I´m totally messed up. I plan on getting intensive therapy when I get back to the states. Teehee.

But you know what!?! I´m healthy, I slept well last night, my family loves me, I´m doing some great volunteer work, and I received three letters last week. Woohoo! So don´t worry about me too much - life is good. There is nothing that any of us can do about the boy/love thing - but you can do something about keeping the letters coming.....

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