Forty Four Years

We met when I was seventeen
you were eighteen
brought me a giant teddy bear
for my eighteenth birthday.

My mother worried about your intentions;
a young man, ready to head off to the Navy,
was this just a fling or were you already
serious even though you knew me

for only two months?

Three years later we were married
men had landed on the moon

the Vietnam war raged

protesters on the street

but the cost of living was cheap;
$200 monthly rent,

$600 for a convertible car

$149 a year for insurance

Our son was born in the first year
followed the boat from Hawaii

to South Carolina, spent time in

Virginia and then off to Florida

had a chance to travel at the expense

of the US Navy, second son was

born in Florida,

from there back to California
returned to school, got a degree
in education, soon employed and working
loved my career as a teacher
gave me time to be with my family
we continued to travel and see
most of the US

soon graduations from high school and college

and in no time they were grown

you bought a motorcycle
and we took day trips on weekends

up and down the coast.
Went through the loss of both
our parents, also the heartbreak

of siblings’ dying too young

but we clung to each other

gave each other strength, then came the
marriage of our sons soon, grandchildren
and the arrival of our grand niece
she came to us when she was twelve
stayed until she left for college at eighteen
now life goes on with the challenges of aging.

I’m up for it, I hope you are too!