Christmas Story

At Bayfront Park today I met a chap who has published a book entitled “Grandpa Bernie’s Bedtime Stories“. He is about 96 years of age and married to the same woman for 67 years. She was sitting on the bench next to him. When I asked the woman some pointed questions about their marriage, she told me she is more negative than her husband who is always positive. She added that he is a good man. They both laughed when I related to them two quips: “If she knows why she loves him she doesn’t” and “Criticism is the best autobiography“.

By coincidence afterwards at the condominium where we reside – on my way back from the pool – I met a local realtor and her husband who have been married for over forty years. We thrilled to a brief but thoroughly scintillating conversation. It was a rambling discourse which bounced from their honeymoon in Les Laurentides, Québec to Grosse Point, Michigan to Düsseldorf, Germany to Key Largo, Florida. It is precisely this sort of lively exchange which animates me. It proves once again that humanity in spite of all its possible failings is ultimately the source of our greatest personal satisfaction.