MARRIAGE IS LIFE'S CHALLENGE

.....Two days from now, on June 19, Rhoda and I will celebrate our 27th Anniversary. I've been twice married; the first lasted 30 years, and the second 27. If my math is correct, I've been involved in married life for 57 years. I enjoyed every minute of them. Of those who are uninformed, my second wife is Rhoda, and my first wife's name is Thelma, and we were "childhood sweethearts". That relationship is no longer active. If memory doesn't fail me, and it does at times at my age, I met her when I was 14 and she was 12. At that time we really weren't sweethearts--just friends. Thelma lived in Brighton Beach, in Brooklyn, about an hour's subway ride from my apartment in the Bronx, and one block from the boardwalk and the Atlantic Ocean. Her Aunt and her cousins, Annette, Clara, and Ben lived in the building next to mine and she would visit them quite often; and I flatter myself in thinking that it was because she would get to see me; the Baron was quite dashing back then. Following WWII we consummated that friendship on June 15, 1947. I was 23 and she was 21 Many thousands of veterans married quickly after their service ended; time to start a family as we did. Our family grew as the years wore on. Robin was born in 1950, Joel in 1952, and our twins Bonny and Bobby came along in 1955. Thelma and I celebrated our 25th in 1972 but our co-habitation ended three years later when she left for California never to return. We were divorced in 1977. Our marriage just sort of petered out, but she and I will always be friends as once we were.

.....Ah, but I married once again to Rhoda in 1983. I met her at a B'nai Brith New Year's Eve party in January 1978. The minute I saw this ravishing maiden in her tight fitting brown corduroy suit and her golden Blonde hair and a smile that lit up the room, I knew that I wanted her in more ways than one; and, fortunately for me, my dreams came true. We were definitely made for each other, even though she was fourteen years younger than I, and about 150 pounds lighter, and a foot or so smaller. Rhoda graduated from American University and I reveled in her sharp intellect and feisty demeanor. We complement each other in many ways. A year before we were married I had retired from my teaching career and bought a condo in Florida so as to be near my mother and sister. And following our marriage, Rhoda and I moved to Florida--and we've been here ever since, weathering hurricanes. Rhoda is an amazing woman in so many ways that I can never begin to describe them. Marriage is life's challenge, and to have it succeed takes common sense, patience, understanding and love. I've grown old here, and she cares for me diligently; this marriage will never peter out. Happy Anniversary to us!