Looks like we made it

I was listening to Shania Twain in the car on the way to work this morning. (What? WHAT? I have an ECLECTIC taste in music.)

Whenever I hear “You’re Still the One” I think about the people who literally took bets on how long my marriage was going to last. None of them bet more than a year.

Why, you might ask, did they feel compelled to make bets on the longevity of my marriage?

Could have something to do with how quickly it happened. (I was also asked by a very dear friend whether I was expecting. I responded, “No. And even if I was, it would be too early to tell.”)

My husband and I worked at the same casino in Sparks, Nevada. We were working a jazz festival on July 5, 1987. I was selling tickets and he was selling popcorn and drinks right across the hall. I remember telling the gal I was working with that I thought he was really cute (it was 1987, folks -that was acceptable terminology even if you weren’t in grammar school). We flirted with each other through our whole shifts and before the day was over, he had asked me to dinner and a movie that night. Oh yes, I definitely accepted. We saw each other every single day for the next two weeks and then decided we should get married.

Yes, two weeks.

One small hitch: I had made the decision earlier in the summer to move to Philadelphia and had already had a yard sale and sold everything that wouldn’t fit in my car. Being without furniture and most everything except clothes, books and records (1987, remember?), I was pretty committed to the move. I had made plans to leave approximately 9 weeks from the day we met.

Being young (and stupid, some would assert), we not only decided to get married, we decided to move across the entire country immediately thereafter. And I do mean immediately.

We got married on September 5 – two months to the day after our first date. And then we hopped in our car directly after the reception and spent a week visiting my family in California before heading back to Nevada, fetching all of our worldly belongings and driving to Philly.

So: Got engaged 2 weeks after we met. Got married 2 months after we met. Spent the first month of our marriage driving around the country together. Arrived in a place where we had no jobs and we knew no one except the gal who was renting a room to us. And my husband didn’t even know her, she was an ex-girlfriend of a friend of mine and I had only met her twice myself.

That? Is the marriage version of trial by fire.

But it’s been over 20 years now and even though the road has not always been smooth, I cannot imagine being married to anyone else. Being single is something I can occasionally imagine because, after all, he is a man and I am a woman. Mars and Venus and all that. But married to anyone else? Not a chance.

Ain't nothin' better

We beat the odds together

I'm glad we didn't listen

Look at what we would be missin'

They said, "I bet they'll never make it"

But just look at us holding on

We're still together still going strong

You're still the one I run to

The one that I belong to

You're still the one I want for life

You're still the one that I love

The only one I dream of

You're still the one I kiss good night