Hat Tips

Hello,

I started haying on June 2. That is a long time ago. But, thankfully, we had a few stretches where it was rainy and couldn’t hay, but the past couple weeks we’ve been going pretty steady.

So when we had a chance to take an afternoon off and go help friends celebrate 50 years of marriage, we took off. Shirley said it was too wet to bale.

I remember going to my folks’ 50th anniversary party. I marveled at how they could still dance! My gosh! 50 years of marriage and they could still dance!

As Shirley and I are getting near that 50-year-deal, it doesn’t seem like we are that old. Oh, we don’t dance. Our knees hurt or our backs hurt. My feet are sore, my eyes are weak and my hearing has slipped. But I’m in pretty good shape for the shape I’m in.

Since about half of marriages end up in divorce, I was trying to figure out what the half that stay married have in common. So then I analyzed our 40-plus years of marriage, and I thought about what kept us together.

It must be that I mind. I mind Shirley. When she says it is too wet to bale, I nod. I like to golf when Shirley says I like to golf. I go on vacation when Shirley says I need a vacation. Which, by the way, is only about once every three years; and then it is probably for about two days. I’m a hard worker. Well, not really, but it sounded good.

When we have an argument, which very seldom happens, she is always right. I know you already knew that. Arguing with Shirley can be dangerous to your health.

I’ve a good friend who has been married twice. He says he has always had problems with women. His first wife left him and his second one won’t, but he says it with a smile.

Now, if you do the figuring, if you were married 50 years ago, that would be 1968. If I figured right, math is not my strong suit.

In 1968, gas was 34 cents a gallon! Wow! A new home cost about $26,000. The DOW hit a high of 985. A stamp cost six cents. North Korea commandeered the ship “Pueblo” and was holding the crew hostage as spies. North Vietnam started the Tet offensive.

So, you can see that the people that celebrated 50 years together have really screwed the country up. They’ve raised the cost of a house about $300,000. They’ve raised the price of gas over $3 per gallon. They’ve really increased the price of stamps.

To all of you that have been married a long time, or those of you that think it’s been a long time, good luck and be ready for many more. The first 40 are easy.

Later, Dean