Dec. 16 is my wife's birthday. She is here in Arizona separated from her family by 2000 miles, as she has been since 1979, when she was 28. They all, back in Indiana, implore her to move back there as soon as I croak; I am 10 years older than her. She replies, why can't they understand that way over half her lifetime has been spent "away"; that must mean she WANTS to be where she is. This info, to build up to the birthday....today we enjoyed a lunch buffet at AVI Resort, replete with all the wonderful stuff found at a Casino Resort spread, two for one for "locals", $9.99 for the both of us. What a treat! She suggested today's lunch to celebrate her birthday. Tomorrow, she would like to walk the Laughlin Riverwalk, 1-1/2 miles up and back, as payment for all of today's calories! I could not agree more. I met her in early 1978, sitting in front of the machine I had built for Dana Corporation in Churubusco, Indiana, where I had just returned after a six-year foray into far-western (desert) living in Las Vegas, including a year in Canon City, Colorado. She was placing parts by hand as we had designed, in producing oil seals by a new and innovative way. Here is the machine during it's construction: The comely lass is my then-wife's sister, 15. She reluctantly accompanied me to 'Busco for a weekend from our home outside of Chicago, those 178 miles distance traveled by me any my co-worker Bruce twice weekly for 2 years. At that time, Diane, her brother Rick, and my wife Suzanne, then 24, were living with the sudden and tragic loss of both their parents on Oct. 22, 1967, as they undoubtedly continued to do forever. Rick died on his 25th. birthday on Nov. 28, 1975. They were Polish, emigrated with their folks from Germany in May, 1963, seeking a new life in America. I met Suzanne a few days after they arrived. Then 15, possessed of a full-fledged German Cosmetology License, she was more than fully-adult mentally, and as statuesque a picture of femininity as I could imagine! I was in love! Gosh, I've lost my point.....Suzanne and I separated shortly after her brother Rick died, she having lost both parents 8 years earlier, then her brother, the separation was at her request; I bawled for the whole day, wanted to die...... But, finished my studies at UNLV, got my degree, and wound up back in Indiana, where I had left 6 years earlier, and there was this unassuming young woman, petite, VERY appealing, sitting feeding parts into the machine I had slaved into existence almost a decade before. She, of course, did not know this. She, of course, was married......... Before you knew it, despite my backward and unassuming stance, introverted as hell, aw, shoot, I'm not certain how it happened....her co-worker on that machine, Vonda, encouraged her (those here who remember, Vonda is our 40 year friend from Indiana), and I needed very little. My house there, in Ft. Wayne, had the back yard bordering a golf course. My new little lady came out there from Churubusco one evening, alone, and wouldn't you know it, she was brash and forward enough to overcome my shy and bashful nature.........I never knew what it "felt" like in the grass before....my first wife was rather prudish, this newcomer was, well, .........the answer to a man's dreams! We married in 1979, left, left IN as I took a job in Phoenix, AZ. Oh, that first night out back.....I knew she was married, she instigated it, I felt no remorse, I asked her about "Dave"........"yeah, he's real big, but won't hurt you"........Jeez, I thought, worth it, yeah, but I didn't wanna encounter.....never happened. 39 years later, tomorrow is her birthday. What possibly possessed her to stick with me through the times we've encountered, I dunno. Examples: Lost job 1982, we lived in woods of N. AZ. for a year with no electric power, water, or phone. Out of work, 1985, built our own house, she worked I labored (less hard than she knew), lived in it 10 years, sold, retired for the SECOND time, moved to Missouri Ozarks. She stuck it out there with me for 13 years, true, I cut enormous amounts of firewood, no other heat source, she did the household things, we have been exceedingly fortunate to not have been stricken with serious illness. What could I do or get her tomorrow to surprise her, on her 67th. birthday? Frank
Loved your post Frank - can only go by what I would like on birthdays, which is 'the' card from me darlin' I look forward to it and cherish it. You have no qualms expressing yerself, so go ahead and do just that in the sweetest card for her, if you feel that's not enough, maybe a sweet piece of jewellery (nothing to fancy) to mark your years together and her birthday
Happy Birthday to your wife, @Frank Sanoica! Just reminded me that my dad died on Dec. 16th...he would have been 112 years old! Have no ideas on what to get her...I always liked flowers.
Allow her to read your post. It’s open, honest and sincere which is just about what any spouse would want. If that doesn’t do the trick, get her a pony. May your wife have the happiest of days on the 67th anniversary of her birth!!
I kinda forgot. Frank already has a Mustang. Perhaps she might prefer a “Pinto or a Colt”. Fade in the song: Ride Sally Ride.
Great suggestion @Chrissy Cross!! A nice dance in the middle of the living room to....”My heart will go on and on”.