A Penguin in the Orchard

1978, 1985, 25, and 42

1978. I was in high school with my wife. We didn’t know we’d be married. In fact, we barely knew each other. She was a National Honors Society student. Me? I was Spicoli-ing my way through a small town high-school, far too Fast Times for most.

1985. That NHS student saw fit to make me her husband. Torturous individual roads converged. I was 24, she was 25. Seventeen and a half years ago.

Mark and Dora got married yesterday. He’s 25, born in 1978, and far too polite to give away his bride’s age. The day will look different at 42 after life has backfilled some good, some bad. It’s not about the good or the bad, though. It’s about the company you keep through both. The best I can wish for Mark and Dora is that, at 42 and 62 and 82, they can be glad they’ve seen each other through it all.