A bit of philosophy, mine, and a memory

Our 52nd anniversary yesterday.

Who ever thinks of being old enough to write such words? I mean, when you're young, you're young and have no reason or context to imagine being old.

I can remember much about being young, and getting old was never part of my daily imaginings. Even if we saw our elders daily, we did not live their lives. Besides, young people are so much wrapped up in their own lives, their own world, that they have a hard time seeing out, if they ever try. I confess that is true of me in my youth.

About yesterday.

I drove home from Utah and had 4 hours and 40 minutes to myself. I listened to a lot of Bach, but even so my head had plenty of time to think, to remember, to wish Wayne were with me. More than once I spoke to him--you know--and wished he were here to clarify the memory of some incident or outing with our children.

Like what exactly we did on the occasion of our picnic the day we drove up to go tubing and found not enough snow. We ended up at a picnic site on the Payette River, bundled up and hooded. Eating was probably secondary to staying warm, but I suppose the kids had a good time.

We took two cars, of course, his little Subaru, I think, and my huge, heavy Chrysler station wagon. We decided to explore two separate areas, so he went one way and I went another.

That's the time we, in my car, nearly plunged over the side and down into the canyon and water below. The road, if you can call it that, came to an end, suddenly. I hit the brakes and held down the pedal, but the car just kept sliding. I never knew what made it finally stop. Just stop. Right at the edge. Or, actually, a little bit over it with one wheel.

Scared. Terrified. I backed up with great care and we met up, drove down to the river, and had our picnic as if nothing had happened. He was in a different car, and I'd like to hear today what he thought about this whole thing.

Fifty-two years hold a lot of memory. Of course, Wayne was here with us for only forty of those years. You knew that.