I’ve been writing a new book that launches this May. I know! I’m wicked excited about it. It’s called “The Sweet Life” and the book is my guide to love and marriage. So for the last year, I’ve been asking folks what they think is the key to a happy marriage and I gotta tell you, some of the answers were surprising.
For instance, when I asked my friend Betty, she replied, “Golf.”
“Come again?”
“You heard me. Golf.”
“I’m gonna need a little more information.”
“Well, golf is a hobby that we do together. We’re outside, havin’ fun. We joined the couples league and have little shindigs with them every once and awhile. Sometimes we go away for a golfing weekend. It’s like a mini vacation, ‘cause we’re not thinkin’ about anything else while we’re playin’, and so we’re kinda just being ourselves.”
“I feel like that when we go away on vacation. I always know I love Charlie, but when we get away together, I remember what I like about him. We laugh and joke around, all relaxed.”
“Exactly!”
“Like a few years back, I remember we’d been home from vacation a couple of days and we got into a little argument about something or other. I says to Charlie, ‘Where is the fun lovin’ guy I was on vacation with?’ And he goes, ‘I expect he’s with the easy goin’ gal I was on vacation with’.”
“Too funny, but oh, so true!” Betty says. “One time, me and Pat were up to the Bethel for the weekend golfing. We’d played eighteen holes, both of us really on our game, had a delicious dinner. So we’re back in our room at the hotel, and Pat’s ‘being nice to me,’ when the fire alarm goes off. We have to stop what we’re doin’, get all dressed. Out we go, down three flights of stairs…”
“Because you’re not supposed to use the elevator during a fire.”
“Right. We’re outside for about five or ten minutes when we get the okay. Alright, back we go to the room. You’d think that would’ve put a damper on things, but it was kind of excitin’ and we were still a little jacked up. So Pat’s being nice to me, when I’ll be damned! The fire alarm goes off again. Pat doesn’t skip a beat, if you know what I’m saying. He just looks at me and says, ‘Let it burn, Betty. Let it burn!’”
Happy Valentine’s Day, my friends!
That’s it for now. Catch you on the flip side!
Hear Ida Tell It: Fore Play
Coming up this Winter/Spring:
March 5: Keynote speech with Pat Spalding, Seacoast Women’s Week, 9:00 a.m., Portsmouth, NH
March 21: A Visit With Ida, 1:00 p.m., Westbrook Seniors, Westbrook, ME
April 12: “Finding Your Inner Moose” book reading, Windham Public Library, 6:00 p.m., Windham, ME