Wifey B:
Art
Beautiful story. So heartwarming.
I believe we should all have bucket lists but not just of what we want to do before we die. Dreams. Especially things we want to do this year and next. Things we can say we dream of and then we can set our minds on. They don't have to be huge things. Maybe some are just seeing people important to us. I bet lots of those being developed right now, just longing for hugs. They are dreams you share with those closest to you.
They may be the next boat or the next shirt. Maybe splurging on something like a special bottle of champagne to celebrate a birthday and anniversary or your favorite cheesecake. Perhaps an escape. Maybe an outrageously expensive concert of a musician you've loved for decades. Maybe a walk along a specific beach or a return to the place you met or honeymooned.
We keep a list. That's hubby's style. Put it on a spreadsheet. He has spreadsheets for everything. This years is all f...ed up and so some slides to next year and we put new things on this year. Thing is always looking forward, even in the worst and most depressing of times. Recent events have led us to add some things together. I went months without seeing my niece, without a trip to the orphanage, without checking on the school in SC. Well, I did all of them online, but longed for in person so we did. We distanced and we masked and still when we got home we self quarantined as we'd normally be around some older people and didn't want to put them at risk. We were tested today and will test again tomorrow and if all is positive, go boating this weekend.
Life isn't about just what you've done, living is about what you're going to do. Even if your spouse is ill, it's about making things the best you can, supporting them through treatment, being there with them. There are no guaranteed results, but there are ways to make it the best possible.
Things never seem to go as we plan. We're all over the place doing this and that. But then we still have what we planned to do later while enjoying something else.
I see too many people fold up and die, not physically, but mentally and emotionally. Look at all the businesses giving up. While we were quarantined at home for a couple of months with a few of our key executives with us, I saw some absolutely insane business decisions made. I have found out over the years, my hubby seems smart and normal but he's absolutely as crazy as me. Pull back, reduce production when you know your customer base is going to decrease, that's what normal people do. For pete's sake don't put more money in. Not him, not any of us because it's contagious and everyone became enthusiastic. It was add lines, add stores to take good and produce away. It was do anything you can think of to protect jobs because that was the mission. We put more money in the business. He had a dream for coming out of this and that's why he and I are working full time because we're stepping into the middle. And that's why we're happy and energized in spite of income statements that all go the wrong way.
Art and his wife didn't give up. They knew what they were fighting and that they might not win, but if you don't plan to win, you never will. Plan to fail and you're guaranteed to fail.
I think the luckiest thing ever to happen to us as a couple was the most serious challenge we ever faced, the year we met. It involved government agencies, threat of death, threat of separation, but we fought and we did it together. People ask don't you wish you could do it over and not go through that. Nope. That's part of how we got here. That taught us more about ourselves than normalcy could have. I certainly wish young people not to face such things but perhaps they'd all be better in life to face one serious challenge when young. I can tell you, after that, the rest of life is easy. Our friends and family are like "how can you two be so happy" and we can't tell them what we went through but we just look back on making it through that and now being here and it's all good and we know tomorrow and the next day will be.
Now, reality tells us the day will come when it isn't good, but we're not going to allow that reality in. Instead we're going to believe. We're going to figuratively buy that RV to take those trips we may never get to take, but we're not going to give up on living. Life happens, but living only happens if you make it.
