A Marriage of Convenience

We’ve been together a long, long time.

It’s probably one of the longest relationships I’ve had in my lifetime. It wasn’t an instant attraction. Certainly, not a marriage of love, but rather an economic arrangement. I never intended it to be a long standing commitment. When we first met, I thought to myself, “Okay, but just for a little while.”

That was 56 years ago, and we are still together. The two survivors of a once close-knit family of six. I know we are both old, even if I try to pretend differently, or attempt to “Think young.” It doesn’t have that ability, so it stands weathered and slightly shabby, but still upright.

I remember when Emily and Bill both died within months of each other. Emily was Jim Garrett’s wife, and Bill, my adored Father. Our families had been neighbors and friends as long as I could remember. They were so young to leave this world, both rather unexpectedly, leaving Jim and my Mom adrift and devastated by their unexpected loss. It was the year of Rosie Clooney’s big hit, “This Ole House.” Mom told me Jim would weep whenever he heard the song, and her own eyes filled with tears as she told the story.

That was ever so long ago, and still I think of it these days, when I look at my own Old House, and I wonder how long we will be together. Like other women of my vintage, I require periodic visits to the Internist, the Ophthalmologist, the Dermatologist, the Dentist and weekly trips for Flexibility Therapy along with the vital support system of The Red Door.

My beloved home has even more needs, and the At Home visits from a dependably wonderful Handyman, the equally reliable Terminex representative, an amazing garden crew, along with emergency visits from carpenters, water management engineers and tree surgeons are becoming more and more vital to its wellbeing. It is difficult to determine who requires more maintenance, the house or I.

We’ve been together for ever so long. It wasn’t an instant attraction, but my Husband had been a Long Island native, and wished to settle with his family in the Town of Oyster Bay. I had other ideas, but since he was commuting into the City daily, I agreed with his decision.

As I stood looking at the house the real estate representative was touting as perfect for our growing family, I recall thinking quietly to myself, “Okay, but just for a little while.” That was 56 years ago.

A long time ago indeed. The years quickly passed when we had two more children, and the days flew by when all four went to school, laughed, cried, broke bones, vacationed, fell in love, graduated and finally went off to seek their fortunes. As the seasons changed, my Husband ended one career and began another, and both my Mom and Jim left to join Bill and Emily.

Then two of us remained in the house we had grown to love. Suddenly one day the wind grew cold and bitter, and it was just the house and I. That was 7 years ago, and I remembered Mom telling me how the song “This Ole House” made Jim weep. That was when I did too.

Yet when the summer winds cause the fragrance of Lilacs to fill the patio, I think, “We’re not so old, this old house and I. We can stay a little while longer.” When the holly berries come out, you can also smell the pine cones and the aroma of Christmas cookies, I know there is room for any and all who may return for a visit, and I think, “We can stay together a little while longer.”

Sometimes though when the For Sale signs pop up on a neighbor’s lawn, and I see the moving vans roll down the road, I wonder how much longer this Marriage of Convenience that grew into a Marriage of Love can endure. And I know how much I will miss this Old House of ours when the day we must part arrives.