Marriage Memoir by Ron and Crystal Meinstein

            Crystal and I recently attended our nephew’s wedding in Boston, Ma. It was wonderful. The wedding itself was officiated by my brother-in-law, Larry. He did a fine job. However, it was an outdoor ceremony on a very warm muggy day. I refused to keep my coat on. If I had the choice, I would have attended in my swim trunks.

            I thought the best part was the vows. I could just tell that these two had done their homework on each other, and are very much in love. That is always a great sign. They have a great chance to be in the positive fifty percent of marriages.

            The reception was in a beautifully air-conditioned venue, with great food, drink, a lot of good conversation with new friends and relatives, music and dancing. It was well worth the seventeen-hundred-mile round trip drive.

            But that wasn’t the whole story of our trip. In my youth I had done a lot of traveling, both business and with my parents. Crystal never had that kind of opportunity. I promised early on that, I would take her to places she wanted to see. On this trip that was Concord, MA. About a forty-minute trip from Boston, a lot of her favorite American writers lived, worked and were buried (after they died).

            We saw the homes of Louisa May Alcott, and Emerson, and walked the shores of Thoreau’s Waldo Pond. OK, Waldon Pond was a disappointment. For one thing, it’s really a substantial lake; and it’s overrun with swimmers, paddlers, and tourists. Furthermore, it’s not nearly the secluded, picturesque natural scene described in his eloquent prose (which I was forced to read in High School). We also visited the Lexington Concord Bridge, where the Revolutionary War began.

            Finally, Crystal made me take way too many pictures of headstones in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

            So, it has taken a few years, but we finally have a chance to do some traveling as a couple. And all things considered, I think we travel pretty well.

            My wish for Erik and Quynh’s marriage is that they grow closer through the years. Not every day will be rainbows and puppies. But together, challenge begets growth. Enjoy the journey.