You Knew Me When

We share our house with  my in-laws. We made the decision to live together about five years ago, and considered building an addition onto our previous home. But instead we moved, to a house that was already set up as a mother/daughter. Or, in our case, a mother/son.

The Captain's parents are young, they both still work, and are active outside the home. But we do all get together on Sunday night for family dinner. It's the only day of the week we guarantee a home-cooked meal, and the rare opportunity to visit with all the children.

This past Sunday, after dessert and clean-up, Two sat at the table and did his homework while I did some on-line ordering for my father-in-law. He is a weight lifter, and needed some specific apparel for his next meet. We tooled around some sites, and found the correct items. The clothing is built to spec, so body measurements were needed. I told him I drew the line at measuring his glutes. The mother-in-law was called in for the job.

FIL : "Let's go. Measure right here."
MIL : "Really? That's where your glutes are? Because when I measure my ass, I measure down here."
FIL : "Right here. And now we have to do my quads. Come with me, because I have to take off my pants."
MIL : "Really? We have to go in that bathroom? You can't just measure over your pants? Make the tape measure really tight."
FIL : "Now my flexed arm. Measure right here, where it's flexed."
MIL : "I cannot see these numbers. Megan, what number is that? I think I'm using the wrong side, with the smaller numbers. All this for a shirt?"

At this point, Two stopped working and said, "I can't wait to be married, so I can have conversations like that." I thought it very sweet, for a variety of reasons.

My parents divorced when I was thirteen, and at that time, they had remained married longer than the parents of most of my friends. A large percentage of the boys' friends have divorced parents. So, it is a remarkable thing, these days, to witness the daily life of a couple who have been married for 47 years.

They've known one another almost all their lives, and got married when my mother-in-law was 21. They have known ME since I was just out of my teens, and arrived at their house wearing pounds of rosary beads draped beneath my purple hair. When asked why she married at such a young age, my mother-in-law says, "We just wanted to be together. We couldn't wait any longer."

Today, we all tend to wait a little longer. That first wave of love, and the all-consuming need to be together, eventually ebbs, and we realize that what's left in its wake isn't enough to sustain us for a lifetime. Two will experience this soon enough. But he has the rare opportunity to witness honest and enduring love every day. Hopefully this will be the lighthouse that saves him from the inevitable wreckage of young love, and sets him on his own course, filled with family, food, and funny conversations.

Today, in honor of both new, and knowing, love...

I Love You

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I love your lips when they’re wet with wine

    And red with a wild desire;

I love your eyes when the lovelight lies

    Lit with a passionate fire.

I love your arms when the warm white flesh

    Touches mine in a fond embrace;

I love your hair when the strands enmesh

    Your kisses against my face.

Not for me the cold, calm kiss

    Of a virgin’s bloodless love;

Not for me the saint’s white bliss,

    Nor the heart of a spotless dove.

But give me the love that so freely gives

    And laughs at the whole world’s blame,

With your body so young and warm in my arms,

    It sets my poor heart aflame.

So kiss me sweet with your warm wet mouth,

    Still fragrant with ruby wine,

And say with a fervor born of the South

    That your body and soul are mine.

Clasp me close in your warm young arms,

    While the pale stars shine above,

And we’ll live our whole young lives away

    In the joys of a living love.