We met on my 35th birthday, This year (2021) November 15 will be our 35th wedding anniversary. That means I have known Lolly for 1/2 my life (I just turned 70).
Every once in a while I get philosophical and look back on my life. I'm not looking for anything special, I just want to make sure that I'm going forward in the right direction, making the right choices. I have made many mistakes in my life, especially when I was younger. It seems that I learn more about life from my mistakes than from academics. I always pray that the lord will help me spot them and show me what I can learn from them. ... One thing that was not a mistake was stepping out one morning and buying a newspaper.
We were complete opposites. We were born and raised on opposite sides of the planet. Different cultures, environments, societies, ways of life. There wasn't one common thread between us.
The first thing I remember Lolita doing was, she made the sign of the cross. Not the habitual gesture that I see many Catholics make, Hers was a prayer. The ugliness of war had all but erased any memory I had of God, religion and church. I had given up on religion and God. It wasn't that God didn't exist, He existed, but I felt he just wasn't paying attention to me. I tried to quell the memories of a war that no one wanted, with alcohol for almost 10 years.
She was very well educated, she just received a Doctorate degree in education. I just barely made it out of high school, and I HATED school. She was very meticulous, I was very messy.
Although we were opposites, I felt comfortable sitting across the table from her in a restaurant and walking around all the tourist spots in San Diego with her. Much later I felt more comfortable sitting next to her at Mass than I did sitting alone in a Protestant church.
As I learned about Lolita, I also learned about myself. I had become very different than I was at age 18, and now because of Lolita, was becoming very different than when I was 30.
When I graduated from High School I enlisted in the Navy. The Navy turned me into an adult, the war ripped my soul from me. I was lost to God and lost to the world around me...Well, to everyone and everything except Lolita.
Unknowingly at that time, I was learning from Lolita. Through the way she lived her life I was learning what Jesus meant when he talked of "love." A lot of things go into love. Acceptance, respect and caring are all a part of the Love that Jesus talked about. Lolita and I were very different, from birth! But we accepted our differences and respected them, whether we agreed or disagreed with it, we accepted and respected each other's lives - totally. From acceptance and respect comes caring. I was beginning to feel Lolly caring for me (she was the ONLY woman...person to ever get me to go to a Dentist...TWICE!!!!). Being a part of Lolly's life, watching how she handles the good and the bad stuff of daily life helped me to gain my soul back.
Today I thank God for every day I have with Lolly and I thank Lolly for all she has done for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment