ninanevermore

Today on my drive into work, I was thinking about the box that arrived on my doorstep this past Saturday, completely unexpected. The return address was that of my Aunt Florence, the wife of my father's oldest brother, Wayne. Since my father is not that close to this brother, I don't know Florence all that well. Certainly not well enough for her to send me a presents.

It turned out not to be a present so much as a box of mementos. I learned from the 6-page letter in the box that she had recently cleaned out an old trunk, in which she found a framed photograph of my parents on their wedding day and the graduation program from my father's college graduation. She thought I would like to have them, and so she sent them to me.

( My features before they were mine )

Today on my drive into work, I was thinking about a lesson I learned from my parents growing up about jealousy and how pointless it is.

When I was growing up, my parents walked everywhere hand in hand. Out of my peers in the 70's, I was one of the few kids I knew who's parents were still married and still happy. I had friends whose parents were still together, but most of them didn't carry on the way my parents did, holding hands and kissing and each telling the other that they were loved several times a day and at the end of each phone call. It's not that they never argued; sometimes they would have shouting matches that seemed to last for hours. Their tiffs never lasted for days or weeks the way other couples seemed to. They had a firm policy of settling their differences before they went to sleep, even if it meant they had to stay awake all night talking. These were all very good lessons for me, but they aren't what this post is about.

They also had a habit that I have since learned was unusual. When they were walking hand in hand and a pretty woman passed by, my mother would comment, "There's an attractive gal," and my father, while holding hands with my mom, would turn his head and watch the pretty woman as she passed them. Once he was done, he would turn back to my mother and continue whatever their conversation was.

( Love and trust are assets that can be augmented without surgery; breasts are not. )