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December 07, 2009
That Uncertain Feeling
Karen at a family wedding. I fell in love with this girl.
Karen looks at me and says: “There's some kind of mix-up with our flight back to L.A.”
Briefly: something to do with an on-line reservation that, somehow, got lost in cyberspace. Anyway, Karen has to get back for an important meeting. I'm a screenwriter, thus with laptop and internet, I'm good to go. No reason to spend hundreds of dollars to get back to L.A. on the same flight.
We drop Karen off at Kennedy airport and I spend the night at Offspring#'s extremely neat and extremely clean—perfect for manufacturing computer chips—apartment in Queens.
Offspring #3 curls up on the couch, neatly tucks her legs beneath her—a mirror image of her mother—and labors over college homework. She's deep into a business marketing textbook. I peek at a few pages and my head starts throbbing from all the graphs and incomprehensible business lingo. Son-in-Law #2 is attending a shiur, Torah study class, at Yeshiva University.
Me. Reading, The Age of Dreaming, sorta.
But really I'm watching Karen.
On the silver screen in my so-called mind.
I say to myself: Okay, now Karen's on the airplane, in her seat, a little bag of food by her side and, oh, yeah, a mug of hot tea cupped in her hand.
Later: Now Karen is home, unpacking, changing into her comfortable home clothes. I'll bet she's switched on the TV, Fox News, and muttering darkly to herself about Obama's latest knuckle-head pronouncement.
Now I see my wife brushing her hair in the mirror, a deeply feminine image that never fails to make me happy.
Interpolation
The other feminine thing that drives me crazy with joy is when Karen says, “Do my back, please.”
I feel like Cary Grant, zipping up the back of my wife's dress.
End Interpolation
I've been in love with Karen since we were nine-years old.
As someone once remarked, “That's not too normal.”
But even now, after over 30-years of marriage, I'm still that love struck child, uncertain and incomplete in my skin.
I wonder if this will ever change?
I wonder if it should change?
Let us not forget that today is Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Day. My friend Wolf Howling provides a lovely and meaningful post memorializing this important anniversary.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at December 7, 2009 08:56 AM
Comments
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1. No profanity.2. No Israel bashing. We debate, we discuss, we are respectful. You know what Israel bashing is. The world is full of it. Seraphic Secret is one of the few places in the world that will not tolerate this form of anti-Semitism. That's it. Break either of these rules and you will be banned.
Beautiful thoughts and beautiful feelings.
Posted by: jo at December 7, 2009 09:46 AM
Having read of your love for Karen all this time I think you have found your basherte.
Posted by: Bill Brandt at December 7, 2009 10:10 AM
Please G-d, that special awe-inspired love that you have for Karen will never -- and should never -- change. Your lives have been blessed with this special love amidst painful and ugly realities, and perhaps that's what helps sustain you. May you cherish Karen for many years to come, Robert, and vice versa!
Posted by: Pearl at December 7, 2009 02:09 PM
I wonder if it should change?
Nah, obsessive compulsives rarely change. ;-)
Seriously though, why should it? (no, that needs no answer other than "it won't"
Posted by: pdwalker at December 7, 2009 08:11 PM
Good for you Robert, you lucky old son!
Posted by: Earl O'Neill at December 7, 2009 09:07 PM
With the Tiger Woods story in the news. it is good to be reminded that people can fall and stay in love and remain married through the normal and expected ups and downs. Thanks for a beautiful post.
Posted by: Johnny at December 8, 2009 05:56 AM
Robert, you are rich in ways that many in Hollywood are poor.
Posted by: PCD at December 8, 2009 07:32 AM
I wonder if it should change?
Never in a million years. What you have is rare and beautiful and an absolute joy. *smiles*
Posted by: Jennifer at December 8, 2009 08:07 AM
Everyone:
Thanks so much for all your generous comments.
Karen pointed out to me that in my mind's eye I missed a most important, if mundane, image: doing the laundry when she arrived home.
Says a lot about the limits of my imagination, huh?
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.seraphicpress.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 8, 2009 09:49 AM
Speaking of weddings, Mazel tov on Jessica's marriage. I was hoping you would post some pics!
Posted by: Elana at December 8, 2009 11:33 AM
As always, Robert, thanks so much for the link and kind words.
Posted by: GW at December 8, 2009 01:09 PM