love Means Putting The Other One First
As a teenager I had certain ideas in my mind that constituted the idyllic life of love and marriage. In Home Economics, our teacher had us plan the perfect wedding and the perfect reception, right down to the throwing of rice and driving away in a limousine. It was just like the movies where the nice guy gets the beautiful girl and they live happily ever after. Reality was not a part of the picture.
After high school, I went to college and was determined to ome a nurse. I forgot about marriage. I could put that on hold since I was going to help people and travel. Surprisingly, two years later I met the man I would marry. It's often said, " opposites attract." This was really true about us.
He was from a small town in Idaho and farmed with his father. I was from a Southern town, which had a ater population than the entire state of Idaho. I had always been emphatic that I didn't know whom I would marry, but one thing was for sure --he would not be a farmer or dairyman! Well, I was wrong in both cases. They were not only farmers but dairymen as well.
We were married in October just prior to the beginning of heavy snowfalls. It would snow heavily throughout the whole winter. Our only entertainment was listening to the radio or the local high school sporting events. My new husband was a
lover of sports. He had been a champion boxer and also participated in most sports. I was a lover of the arts. Speech, drama and dance were my first love. The nearest town with this kind of entertainment was forty miles away and the highway was closed off and on1 all winter.
We had only been married seven months when I received word that my mother, who was battling cancer, would not live much longer. Even though there was the dairy with 75 cows and 1400 acres to farm, as soon as my husband read the telegram, he sadly said, " Honey, get your bags packed while I make reservations for you. Your place is with your mother and your father right now." To him there had been no other decision to make. Every week I would receive a letter telling me all about how the farm was doing and inquiring about my parents and how we were all doing. Little was said about his sadness of being alone, or of missing his new bride, except at the very end of his letters where an unmistakable " I love you" was written. Teenage dream letters would have been filled with remarks of undying love and pain of missing me, but his letters were simple words of reality.
Four months later, after the funeral and final matters were taken care of with my father and brother, I returned to Idaho where I knew my husband would be at the airport to meet me.
The look in his eyes told me more than any dream letter could. The joy and honesty of love was deep. On the 80-mile drive to our home, I talked incessantly while he quietly listened, without interrupting. When he finally had a chance to respond, he asked me to open the glove compartment of the car and take out an envelope with my name on it. " I wanted to give you something special to let you know how much I missed you," he said quietly.
I opened the envelope to find season tickets, for both of us, to all of the area's fine art functions. Our income was not all that at and I was stunned. " I don't believe this," I cried. " You don't enjoy these things!"
When I finally stopped protesting, he reached out, hugged me and quietly said, " No, but you do, and I will learn." In that moment I realized marriage wasn't 50/50, but real love was made of 100/0 sometimes. Love means putting the other one
first. His example taught his young wife a at lesson--a lesson that has made a happy marriage for 51 years.
還是十幾歲的少女時,我腦子里對愛情與婚姻所想像的是情畫意般的生活。在家政學課上,老師讓我們設計理想的婚禮、理想的婚慶招待會 ,一直到撒大米、新郎新娘開著豪華轎車緩緩離去。這就像中俊男靚女終成眷屬,他們從此幸福地生活在一起。但現實可不是如此。
后,我上了大學,立志要做一名護士。我把婚姻拋在了腦后。我暫不考慮結婚,因為我要幫助他人,我要周游四方。令人驚奇的是, 兩年后我遇到了我要嫁的男人。常常有人說,"對立物互相吸引。"我們倆就是這么回事。
他愛達荷州的一個小鎮(zhèn),和他父親一起經營農場。我南方的一個城鎮(zhèn),那里的人口比整個愛達荷州的總人口都多。我一直都是態(tài) 度堅決地表明我不知道要嫁給什么樣的男人,但有一點是肯定無疑的--他不會是務農的或養(yǎng)乳牛的!但是結果我都錯了。我遇到的這個男人和 他父親既耕作也養(yǎng)牛。
我們在10月結了婚,就在大雪迫近之際。大雪會下一冬天。我們惟一的娛樂就是聽收音機或觀看當地比賽。我新婚的丈夫是個體 育愛好者。他曾是拳擊冠軍,也參加過很多種活動。而我是個藝術迷。、戲劇、舞蹈是我的摯愛。有這類藝術活動的城鎮(zhèn),最近的離 我們也有40英里,而高速公路在整個冬天是時而封閉時而開放的。
在我們結婚僅7個月的時候,我得到消息:我母親在與癌癥作抗爭,恐怕活不了多久了。盡管有75頭牛和1400畝地要照顧,但我丈夫讀完電 報就悲傷地說:"親愛的,我去給你訂票,你收拾好行李。你現在是該和你父母在一起。"對于他來說沒有什么別的決定可作。每周我會收到他 的來信,告訴我農場的情況,并詢問我父母如何,我們全家人怎么樣。他很少流露他孤獨一人的悲傷,或他如何思念他的新婚妻子,只是在每 封信的結尾都清楚無誤地寫了"我愛你"。我十幾歲時想像的夢中情書應該滿紙都是訴說永恒的愛和思念我的痛苦,但是我丈夫的信就是簡簡單 單描述現實生活的幾行字。 4個月后,舉行完葬禮,在和我父親與兄弟一同落實了最后事宜之后,我返回愛達荷州。我知道我丈夫會到機場來 接我。
他的眼神告訴我的遠比任何夢中情書所能寫的還要多,充滿了深切的愛的喜悅和誠摯。在開車80英里回我們家的路上,我不停地說這說那 ,而他只是靜靜地聽著,并不打斷我的話。當他終于有機會講話時,他叫我打開汽車儀表板上的儲物箱,拿出上面寫有我名字的一個信封。"我 想給你一樣特別的東西,讓你知道我有多么想你,"他平靜地說。
我打開信封,發(fā)現里面有不少季節(jié)門票,是我們兩人的,是去參加該地區(qū)所有藝術活動的門票。我們的收入還沒到那個水平,我真是驚呆 了。"我不相信,"我哭著說,"你并不喜歡這些東西!" 當我終于停止抗議時,他伸出臂膀,將我摟抱在懷,靜靜地說:"是的,但是你喜歡,而我可以學。"
在那一刻,我領悟到婚姻不是50對50,真正的愛有時是100對0。愛意味著把對方放在首位。他用實例給他年輕的妻子上了深刻的一課,這一課促成了51年的幸?;橐觥?/span>