Let Me Tell You ‘Bout

Long ago, in the gray mists of early time, I was young. Like all sweet young things of my time, I was looking for a husband and he had to be a certain kind of man, cute, intelligent, witty, serious, adventurous, fun loving, boyish, competent, romantic, macho and extraordinarily sensitive. As you can see, he was doomed from the start.

I actually expected all these attributes not to clash with one another, or me, and for us to live happily ever after in affluent hippy hood with barefoot children running through the sunlit daisies of a forest prime evil.

Dare I tell you it wasn’t quite so simple? For one thing there was the matter of money. One of us had to go out into that crass old world and make it. For another the county we lived in refused to zone our five acres for a trailer to live in until we got the house built. Oh and one last thing, the children did not show up until long after many of these dreams were just wispy memories.

Ours was the story of many seventies’ couples. Caught somewhere between the stodgy ideals of our parents and the flower power of the sixties, we wanted it all. Never realizing that we already had the most valuable and incredibly powerful things, youth and time.

If I could take those two things and combine them with the wisdom and tolerance I have now? The possibilities are endless. I would expect less and take more of everything. I’d still want all the same things, but I’d have a much better idea of how they came together. Perhaps I would add musical ability to that list up there, because in the end it really is all in the timing.

In relationships, life is one long duet and each person has to do their part while leaving room for their partner to do his.