Recently I was asked to find a journal I kept when we met twenty-three years ago. In it, I found a passage in which I wrote about a dream I had awoken from.
Twenty-three years ago! We had been dating for less than a month.
The Key to a Happy Marriage
In my dream, I sat with S. Morgan in first class on a transatlantic flight. For most of the flight, we sat in the silent peace of new love, only pausing to remark on an elderly couple sitting in front of us. We hoped that when we reached their age, we would look as they did and be as happy as they were. They looked like kids in love.
They cuddled and sat with their arms around each other, regardless of whether the stillness hurt their old bones. Midway across the ocean, the plane started developing troubles, and it looked like we wouldn’t make it to the other side. It was a slow descent, giving us time to reflect on our short time together. We watched the couple kiss and tell each other what a wonderful life they had together. “I wouldn’t have had it any other way,” he said to her. She kissed him and said, “We’ve made mistakes, but nothing that could ever pull us apart.”
I watched them and wished we had their time, and I wished we could be looking back longer rather than regretting our short time together. I think S. felt the same way. I said to her, “Even though it’s been short, I’ve been in love with the idea of being with you and in love with the idea of life with you.”
“We will be together again,” S. said as we embraced. The couple turned to us and took our hands in a moment of connection.
“How have you managed to stay together this long?” I asked her.
“The trick is this,” she said as she pulled a little vial from her husband’s coat pocket. “We carry it everywhere.” In the pocket was a little vial of sticky glitter.
“Whenever we get mad at each other, we put a little dab of glitter on each other’s noses.”
S. smiled. I smiled at her smiling.
“You can never be mad at someone when they have glitter on their nose,” the elderly man said, dabbing a little on her nose and kissing it.