Endurance

That's what marriage is.  Yesterday was our 35th anniversary (we've been together 38) and we have had to endure a lot.  Back in 1980, when I met B, I met his then-wife at a dinner.  Took one look at her and said to B's secretary, "Don't tell me he's married to one of those?!"  Because she was definitely "one of those" -- you know, dyed blonde, stay-at-home, un-educated loser.  All you had to do was look at her to figure her out and yet, I married him anyway.  "Isn't it unbelievable," his secretary said.  I actually thought the ex might get on with her life, but no such luck.  I mean, with her reputation for divorce thievery, why would any self-respecting man in Ottawa go near her?!

None did.

Although I tried very hard to set an example for my stepdaughter, she has morphed into her mother.  Obviously I failed miserably.  What she forgets is that I was the one who intervened with the school board to get her her bilingual certificate from high school when they said she was a couple of credits short.  By adding a couple of stints at summer school, they gave her the certificate that enabled her to get her job at Disney and subsequently Hyatt Hotels.  I was also the one who called an ex-fiancé and told him he'd better get her stuff back to Ottawa, or B would be on the next plane.  She got her stuff back.   

So, we are in mourning over B's grandchildren because we will not see them again -- unless B travels to Houston, which he will not do.  G-d!  We've squandered $50,000 on trips there over the years to no avail.  So, now these kids will be deprived of B (and me) and will have only the unfortunate Dallas Dudes and the unaccomplished Ottawa Grass Widow as grandparents. 

It's all so sad, but I've had it.  And so has B.  Finally.

Here we are, August 19, 1983

When we were finally married in the Catholic Church in 2004