It Ought To Be Simple

There's  a Hebrew well-wish-saying "עד מאה ועשרים", "ahd meah v'esrim", which means "(may you live) to a hundred and twenty".   I don't know if anyone that says that really believes it will happen, but I have good reason to believe I'll live to a hundred and forty.   When I turned forty one, I was a prime candidate for a mid-life crisis.  The sad cliché of having an affair with a woman from the office was off the table and the pathetic sports car purchase didn't seem to fit my four-wheel-drive persona, but Linda and I were sitting at the breakfast table and I opened the newspaper to see a full page ad for the newly released BMW Z3 and said "that is the most beautiful car!".  Linda said "go get it".   No sane man would have an affair on a woman that stellar and suddenly the guy in his forties who buys his first sports car seemed less pathetic and more go-get-ic.    Lots of folks told me that the car was a mid-life-cri...

  Forty two years ago today, in twelve inches of snow, I finished my greatest accomplishment, tricking Linda into marrying me. I had to act fast before it became obvious that I was out of my depth with her, though it turned out her generosity of spirit would make allowances for me. I asked her to marry me just three weeks after our first date or to be accurate, I told her that we would be married, and she agreed. She never actually said "yes". Through the high and low tides of circumstance, she was constant. I said a thousand times in my head "within the walls of my house, all is well". On this happy occasion, I'll tell a story that became a hallmark of things to come. On our first anniversary, my last boss before I hung up my shingle gave us a gift of a weekend stay in the top floor suite of "The Merry Widow" in Cape May. The entire town of Cape May is a National Historic Landmark and a treasure trove of Victorian beachside homes that time and mo...