Writing my last blog of the year, on the last day of the year, is the last thing I had in mind to do today. But since I’ve been remiss in keeping up on blog posts during this much harried holiday season, I thought I must write one more to even the score.
There was a catastrophe in the news today. An Italian man (99) filed for divorce after discovering that his wife (96) had an affair 60 years ago. Okay, it’s not necessarily catastrophic news. If their divorce is finalized they will get to hold the world title of oldest couple ever to divorce. But with 77 years of marriage under their belt, would they view that as a failure or success?
It obviously still hurts, even when you’re nearly a century old, to learn that someone has broken your trust and your heart. But you’d think the anger and burning embers would cool quicker at 99 than they did at say, 39, when the affair actually happened. Still, she kept the letters. But maybe she kept the letters and then over the next 60 years she totally forgot she had letters, or that she once had a lover who sent letters, and when her husband said, “I can’t find my teeth. Maybe they’re in that locked box at the bottom of your undie drawer,” she ignored him and sat down to watch Wheel of Fortune and knit a pair of socks.
Sometimes the comments on news stories are much funnier than the actual story and in this case I thought they were. So, I’m going to share a few:
One person said, “Sounds like he’s ready to move on with his life.”
I don’t know where he’d be moving to other than a care center, but maybe he’d meet a younger woman there and start over.
Another person said, “A couple I know divorced after 75 years together. The judge asked…’Why are you divorcing now after so long together?” They replied, “We wanted to wait until the kids were dead.”
I totally understand this reasoning. Children will never truly accept their parent’s divorce. It’s just the way it is. But if you wait long enough…
A man wrote, “Good for him..Now he can go out and find a hot, young 80 year old.”
And that brings us back to the care center.
My question after reading this story was:
“Why did this old man decide to go through his wife’s personal stuff all of a sudden? What man has ever cleaned out a closet or drawer without being nagged?
So here’s what I think happened (since I write fiction for a living, you can take it or leave it):
His wife wanted him to find the letters. She must have planted them smack dab in the middle of his easy chair. Otherwise, he never would have found them. It’s a universal fact that a man can’t find anything unless it’s right under his nose. The letters had to have been planted.
But don’t take my word for it. Read the news yourself!
Happy New Year!
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I bet it was just like in the movie Letters to Juliet except reversed and WAY older and her husband isn’t dead….there’s probably not even a vineyard. If it was a movie it would be called Super Old Letters to Romeo.
awesome!!!! maybe being old made him go crazy, they say that alzheimers pt’s live in the past!
Truth IS stranger than fiction. I never could’ve dreamed up this tale.
Funny stuff. Yes, we must find humor in all things, or we’ll go nuts. Allie