Friday, August 1, 2008

The Greatest Generation- My 3rd Dedication

When my grandfather got out of the Army, he returned home ready to start his life as a businessman, with little thought to finding a wife any time soon.

His mother and sister had other plans.

Enter Doris, his sister Virginia's best friend who had, up until that point, always been one of his little sister's giggly friends. Flash forward a few years and he came home to find that the girl he never would have given a second thought to, was now a lovely young woman.

Or, "hot tomato" as he prefers to characterize her.

And so the courtship began. It was love almost immediately and the highlights include him pacing outside church while she attended Saturday mass and he eagerly awaited Saturday date night. From the moment she pulled him under the mistletoe, he could think of little else.

Thankfully, he was able to think enough to put himself through school, start a wonderful career, marry the love of his life, and build a beautiful family five children strong.

She has been gone entirely too long now, but I am quite certain his love is as ardent for her as it ever was. I was so young when she passed, my memories are highlights on a luminous reel...and of what little I do recall, their love must have been some kind of epic.

And as we prepare to celebrate our 7th anniversary, my thoughts also go to those before us who showed us how it's done. The song for today may strike most of you (at least those under 60) as an odd choice for Gen Xers, but it is the song we dance to in our living room when no one is around (DJs refuse to play it publicly, for some reason).

Here's to old fashioned love, my love.


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