ROLLING ONWARD YEAR AFTER SHORTENING YEAR

Today we’re rolling onward since it’s the only place to go.

If you have a better idea, I’m listening.

Comments are open for suggestions on the blog.

My name’s not Gatsby and I’m not Great, but we do share a common sentiment:

“And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

I’m not sure what it means, but I’ll take a stab.

 

We keep rolling onward year after shortening year like boats against the current.

About those shortening years: the picture on top is from 1984, or close to it.

We’re in my mom’s backyard during a visit with my granddad from Texas.

He had a lot of questions about stool softeners for my date.

She was a young thing in her mid-twenties I’d met in my NW Portland neighborhood.

To every question she had an answer since she was in the health business.

Poor old granddad wasn’t in the best of health, though there were signs of something.

In a loud crowded living room the old man who could barely hear when you sat next to him could hear the Dallas Cowboys’ play by play call on a television across that crowded room.

 

Counseling One Another

Since that early space in time until now the woman in the picture has been my steady date, my #1.

What I like to tell people who ask, “How have you lasted so long in such a divorcy time?” is you take your chances and roll the dice.

Every day.

It’s not a ‘one roll’ deal any more than you only get one birthday celebration.

One happens every day, the other every year, and woe to those who forget.

You might hear, “Oh, you don’t have to get me anything this year,” which means something else for you to interpret.

Stop rolling the dice, stop interpreting, and you are on your way to a poor outcome.

‘Oh Davy Do Do, why are you so dramatic?’

Look at the stats and tell me what’s more dramatic.

 

Unexpected circumstances can take you from marital bliss on Monday to an attorney’s office on Friday with little warning. 

After all, almost 50% of first marriages, 60% of second marriages, and 73% of third marriages end in divorce.

 

This Monday to Friday timeline seems long. I’m thinking it goes from a blissful morning to an afternoon office visit.

But that’s just me rolling the dice.

We take turns.

 

Birthday Events For Married Couples: Hers

No matter where you are in your cycle of life, pick a year on your birthday to recall those who care about you.

2004 works for this.

My wife’s family gathered in south England for a show of roots.

This happened a few times at different locations with different wings of her extended family.

It was an impressive effort when you consider how hard it is to get anyone to show up anywhere.

Whatever year that is for you, take a look at an old photograph and remember the good times.

Those two kids in the bottom right corner are in their mid-thirties now with wives and kids of their own.

This is the long strange trip part from the song.

Since then we’ve been rolling onward, paddling our boat against the tide, and shaking dem bones.

Who’s gonna be a big winner today?