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Staying TogetherIn their fourth year of marriage, during a heated argument, she threw a jar of salsa at his pickup truck. Not only did the salsa shatter into a red mess, but the windshield fractured down the side so thereafter, every time she rode in it, she was reminded of that particular fight. Working on WindowsA fixer-upper house sometimes has metaphor written all over its crooked walls and leaky roof. Sometimes, while you are swinging the hammer and ripping out sheetrock, you aren’t aware that it has become a fix-you-upper, and you are to be taught along a wicked learning curve. Tags: California, marriage
A Real MarriageThe other night she came home and said, “Honey, I’ve had an epiphany. I don’t want to get legally married. I don’t want to be recognized by an institution that won’t recognize my friends.” As soon as she said it, it was obvious to me that she was right – again. Waiting for the Big OThe car is pulled to the side of a narrow dirt road almost hidden by overgrown foliage. They are on the island of St. Martin in the West Indies. They are on their honeymoon. And they’ve been fighting all week. Strangers hear them coming and going. Strangers want to remain strangers. Interview at the American ConsulateHe grabbed Lucy’s hand in the large waiting room of the American consulate. They had been living in Mexico for three years, and after piles of immigration paperwork, months of waiting, and two children’s births, they were finally going to be able to return to the United States. Child BrideA woman asked, “Are you married?” “Yes,” she replied. “Oh! You’re just a baby!” the woman remarked loudly, weaving slightly while standing way too close, drunk on new money, power, and bitterness. “I give it a year.” The young bride was too pissed off to comment. Worth the WaitAfter 45 minutes – late to his own birthday party – Marty came downstairs, escorting Janet, a woman Lawrence had met six months before and found so attractive. Lawrence was sure Marty had been making love with her – Lawrence certainly would have been, given the opportunity. Freaky in RenoAfter a long drive from Oakland, she and Ben arrived in Reno around 2 p.m. The night before, Ben had come home from visiting his new friend, Jamie, with a renewed sense of positivism. As they were eating dinner, he looked up at her and said, “I think we should get married.” Getting Off Before LandingWhen they got on the plane in Turkey, they were feeling pretty crappy. And when you do all the airport crap - passports, tickets, baggage, security - in a crappy mood, you wind up feeling loads crappier. Crappy is a bad way to be feeling when you have been married just two months. Chasing RainbowsBack in the day, he’d drive her around in his shiny black jeep and they’d look for rainbows. Sometimes, a rare beam of sun would flicker and dance in his eyes, illuminating his face with a dusky glow. She was like a puppy, looking for rainbows around every corner.   |
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