I’m a true romantic – I cry at sappy movies and despite the assumptions my family and friends may have made about the odds of me getting married again, the delay was due to not having the right groom and not because of my angst with marriage.
Now that I’ve found true love I want everyone else to be as happy as we are and to experience that joy. I got to share with friends Becky and Clarence last summer when they married and today I learned that someone else I love is getting married – my uncle Bob!
Bob married my godmother and aunt Dorothy when I was three and they were married for almost 57 years. When I was growing up they were my favorite relatives – mainly because we saw them quite often but also because my mother and aunt Dorothy were so close as sisters. My dad and uncle Bob shared a love/hate relationship for years and as they got older I think it was fueled more by martinis and tradition than anything else. I loved to hear their verbal sparring although I know my mother and aunt Dorothy spent an inordinate amount of time trying to tell the guys to be nice to each other.
After my parents died in 1997, Dorothy and Bob were like second parents to me and I was thrilled that they were able to attend my wedding even though Dorothy had broken her back several weeks earlier. They even rented a van and hired a driver to bring them from Moberly to Springfield so Dorothy could lay down most of the trip.
Sadly, Dorothy died right before Thanksgiving in 2005 – just a few days short of their 57th anniversary. She had been a brittle diabetic for many years and she finally lost the fight.
A few months after her death, Bob called to “ask my permission” to take a lady friend to a play. He and Dorothy had season tickets to several cultural venues in the Kansas City area and being practical, he saw no reason to forego the events or to waste a ticket. Dorothy had a widow friend who lived near them at John Knox Village in Lee’s Summit so Bob wanted to share the tickets with her.
In just a few months, he and Priscilla were “an item” as he put it – although he was very quick to let me know he had not kissed her and they were NOT moving in together. Too much information, Bob!
Fast forward a couple of years and they are now getting married later this month. When I saw him a couple of months ago, he looked 10 years younger and at 86 is mentally sharp. In fact, he refers to himself as a “sarcastic bastard” and I have to lovingly agree – especially on the sarcastic part. We haven’t yet had the pleasure of meeting Priscilla but my three cousins are happy for them and I know she’s good for Bob.
So here’s to Bob and Priscilla who will marry on June 24th at the First Methodist Church of Lee’s Summit, MO – may they have many happy years together full of love, travel, family, friends and most of all, good health.
