1:22 p.m. - 2002-09-09
today my parents have been married for 23 years
Today, my parents have been married for twenty-three years. Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad.
They met at Oxford. Mom was going to Oxford, and so was Dad's younger brother. Mom was friends with Dad's brother's girlfriend. When Dad came to visit his brother, they were busy with exams, so the brother's girlfriend asked Mom if she could keep an eye out for Dad, take him around London a bit.
They hated each other at first. Mom tells a story about sitting with her friend Abena and looking outside and seeing Dad walk past.
Abena: "You're going to marry that man."
Susan: "Eric? But I hate him!"
Two months later, Abe flew to New York for their wedding.
A week after their wedding, they went to Africa for a year. Dad had a Fullbright Fellowship (fellowship!) or something. They were students, practically broke, lived in a tiny hovel. Mom taught second grade in the Ivory Coast. She taught some kids how to skate and did some baby-sitting. That's where she met Alexis, who we consider a big brother. Alexis was in her class. His mom, Alyce, was in Africa with the Peace Corps.
After the year in Africa, they went to Mexico for a year, and Mom worked on her dissertation. She was interested in Latin American anthropology.
So where are we, 1981-ish? Right. I suppose about then they moved back to the States. I know they stayed somewhere strange for a summer, with horsehair chairs that made Mom intensely allergic, and no air conditioning. I don't remember. I do know that David was born on September 5, 1982. Lauren was born on August 18, 1984. We lived in a small house at New Rochelle. We moved when Mom was pregnant with me. I was born on May 7 in 1987. We had a different house in New Rochelle, where we lived for eight years. Kelsey was born on August 19 in 1989, followed by Alexa in 1991, on April 3. We moved to our current home in Harrison on Christmas Day in 1995, and we've been here ever since.
Last year we went out for dinner at Pampa for their anniversary; it was the last time we were in NYC before September 11th.
For their twentieth anniversary in 1999, Alyce and Bruce came up to stay with us from Washington DC. (Bruce is Alexis' younger brother biologically.) It was the twentieth anniversary of my parents' wedding, but it was also the twentieth anniversary of our relationship with their family.
We almost forgot about it today because they hadn't mentioned it at all. Last night we quickly made a banner saying "HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!". I snuck into the kitchen and propped it up on the windows, using paper towel rolls to keep it upright. haha. It looks funny. I wrote three limericks. One of them is good, one of them isn't good, and the other one was just for fun -- the rhyming and syllables don't even work right -- so I wrote it on the back as a "blooper."
THE GOOD ONE:
You've been married for twenty-three years
Through laughter, six children, and tears
From learning addition
To college admissions
You always get us into gear!
THE NOT-SO-GOOD-ONE THAT DOESN'T REALLY EVEN MAKE SENSE:
With YOU two life's never a bore
Though sometimes you do have to roar
But deep down you know
That it's all just for show
Oh, may you have twenty-three more!
THE FUNNY ONE THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE WHATSOEVER:
The two of you live with such flair
We're shocked you still have all your hair!
You keep us on track
By giving us smacks/smack/snacks/whacks (take your pick)
You make such a wonderful pair!
Hahahaha. See, Dad's incredible with rhymes. In two seconds flat he can come up with a limerick. He could probably even write a villanelle easily, which was the hardest poem I've ever had to write. That was for the tutorial. If I find it, I'll post it up here sometime.
Tonight we're going out for a fancy dinner. I have to wash my hair and shave before then. Meh.
Next year, for their twenty-fourth anniversary, Mom pointed out that she will have been married for as many years as she was old when she met Dad.
Will I find someone who I want to stay with for as long as I live?
