Gigi's Journal -February 26, 2013

Day Three of 30 Things My Children & Grandchildren Should Know About Me

Describe Your Relationship With Your Spouse

I cannot adequately describe my current relationship without starting from the beginning.  I remember meeting Ray in 1972 when I was 13.  The first memory I have, the moment I "knew" he was the one for me, was the end of the school year.  He was on crutches in front of my house and I was walking home from the bus stop.  We met earlier in the school year but I don't remember any of that.  It was a simple conversation:  Ray:  Is your brother home?  Me:  I don't know, I'm just getting home from school."  At that moment, in that seemingly benign conversation - I knew he was the one for me.

When Ray and my brother moved to Florida in September 1976 I was a Senior in high school.  I followed one month after graduating from high school.  I loaded all my belongings onto an AMTRAK train and followed my heart.

A year later, 1978, Ray and I married.  It was a simple wedding.  A few things made it memorable - my Dad originally wasn't able to leave the DC area so we made plans for my brother to walk me down the aisle.  Since my brother was Ray's best friend, Ray needed to find another stand in for Best Man.  He chose Fred.  Well, fortunately, my Dad was able to be there.  Fred missed the wedding and Steve took on the Best Man role (as we originally planned).  Another important thing was Ray's Uncle (like a brother) came to Florida to attend the wedding.  Memorable.

Fast forward many years of more ups than downs, more highs than lows and the ability to take the lows and make them work for us.  I have to credit Ray with being the most important factor in the strength of our marriage.  It took the first 8 years of figuring it all out with 3 children.  Then sometime in that 8th year (8 is the number of new beginning) Ray had an epiphany.  No announcement, no date to signify this decision, just one day he decided to live his life to make me happy.  So, for the last 27 years to this day, I have to honestly say I am the lucky one.  I have been loved unconditionally and intensely by the man of my youth.  Though some days I wonder what he gets out of it I remind myself that our marriage was made long before either of us could comprehend what marriage meant.  We work to make it successful.  The children we have had are our reminder to make it work.  The benefit of all our efforts can be found in four very small children, who are watching closely the relationships of those around them for examples.