TAKING TIME

Sometimes we take life for granted so much that what we used to love we forget that we still do.

Sunday TLW (The Little Woman) and I, just the two of us, spent a quiet day together without kids or interruptions. It is something we used to yearn for when the kids were around. They always came first: so many things changed in our lives, including privacy, something we gave up.

If they had a nightmare, they came in our room at night. If we were talking, they interrupted us. If we felt they didn’t have enough, we took form our plate and put more on theirs. If you are a parent, you know what I mean.

But Sunday, we read the papers, did some small talk and decided to go to dinner somewhere. We drove out to the mall and walked around a bit, going into our favorite store in the mall: Brookstones to view the latest money traps, then went to Port Jefferson and found Shafer’s, a place that is not the greatest by any means, but the calamari was good. The drinks were served with a waitress that showed up with a mask on her face and a gun in her hand and emptied my wallet for $10 for a Jack Daniels Manhattan!

But the great thing wasn’t the; price, the food or the location, it was the company. TLW can be fun when she chooses, making fun of my habits, and me and probably rightfully so, her comments biting in a funny way. But she was there, right beside me, and there is a song my Billy Joel that says in essence: “Home is just another word for you.” And those words are so true. She doesn’t have to say anything, od anything be anything but there, with me, and I am happy.

Was the day ‘great shakes’? Was the day anything really but ordinary? No, but it was appreciated, comfortable and serene. It made me happy that she was next to me, sharing my space, and I was honored that she allows me to.

Thanks Toots!