No Luck Involved

On more than one occasion  recently, I have been  asked how long I have been married.  When I replied, "nearly 35 years", the response was always the same, "WOW, YOU'RE LUCKY!"

Let me be the first one to shout from the highest mountain that LUCK has no bearing on the longevity of my marriage.  Simply put, it is a matter of priority.  I always say that I am a WIFE and a Mother.  My marriage came first.  I know, some of you may criticize.... but this is how I feel.  I was a wife before I was a mother.  I made a commitment to my husband for life, and he made one to me. 

Yes, we are parents.  And we adore our children.  And there were plenty times in our marriage when the children had to come first.  BUT, truth be told.... the kids move out and have their own lives - as it should be.  My husband and I are still here.  He is my number one priority.    I am his number one priority.

There was no luck involved when we survived the "lean" years.... There was no rabbit's foot to rub when we battled illnesses... No four leaf clover saved us from the aggravation of raising teenagers...

There was a lot of commitment.  There was a lot of love.  There was even a lot of screaming when necessary, but there was a lot of "making-up", too.  There was a strong desire to hold things together until we skated through the rough patches so we could enjoy the good times. 

No matter how rough the tough times were, the bottom line was that I knew Mr. W always loved me.  It has not always been easy, but it has always been worth the effort. 

The divorce rate is ridiculously high. One out of 2 marriages will not make it. Such a sad commentary on society.... Maybe people are relying on luck to make it work.

It's SO hot....

We had a new Central Air Conditioner installed 2 Summers ago.  Something that was state of the art and so powerful that we would only use half the electricity to cool the house.  It was installed at the end of that particular summer and last summer was really the first time it was put to good use.  It had a few little problems, but Mr. Wonderful ventured into the attic and tinkered with it and all was fine.

So this Summer we have RECORD BREAKING temperatures and all of Mr. W's tinkering could not put "humpty dumpty back together again".  Can you even imagine my frustration when we called the guy who put this unit in just to find out that he refused to come back to look at it - WTF?!?!?! 

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday - with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees, we managed to survive until someone finally came to lok at it.  We were reassured that we had top of the line equipment with the worst possible installation - again I say, WTF???  

Throughout the obvious sweating, I reminded Mr W that we spent the first half of our marriage without ANY airconditioning..... he reminded me that we were a lot younger then!!%%#!

Here it is Friday afternoon - and we have a tentative appointmet ("no promises") for tomorrow afternoon.  The temperture is still hovering in the high 90's.

We've had invitations to sleep at nerighbor's houses, kids' houses and we even  thought about going to a hotel - yet we stayed put.  WHY?, you may ask..... Mr. Wonderful could not, in good conscience, leave all the animals sweltering alone.  He is a good man.... and he has a good heart... but, let's face it, he totally has his priorities out of order!!!

(I took Brandy to work today so she could sleep comfortably in my air conditioned office)