Little Ditty About J & D

Today is my parents 39th anniversary.

It is amazing they are still together.

Part of the reason I truly hate my divorce is the fact that my folks have managed to keep it together, when everything was working against them.

They got married because she was pregnant. He was 18, she was 16.

I was the baby.

She dropped out of school. Never got her high school diploma.

The first week they were married, she still lived with her folks, and he with his. Finally, he called her up and said this is ridiculous. Get over here.

They got an apartment. A pit.

He got crappy odd jobs.

She worked as a waitress.

They say they loved me, but I know they hated life.

Three years into the marriage, they were fighting all the time. She tried to save the marriage by getting pregnant again. He was having an affair.

He left her.

His mom was disgusted that he was doing what he was doing, and had my mom move into the house with her.

He couldn't afford his apartment cost, as well as child support, as well as everything else, so he came back.

They lived with my grandmother for four years.

Then, my mom got pregnant again.

They both had decent jobs by that time. He was working for the railroad. A job he still has to this day, 32 years later. She was working at a clock store.

They rented a house. We lived there for three years. An alcoholic lived upstairs.

After the three years, they had enough saved to buy their first house. I was nine. They were 28 and 26.

They still live in that house.

He was drinking a lot at this time. She was trying to keep it all together.

They started seeing a marriage counselor.

Eventually, things started to settle down for them.

The kids were growing up, and turning out all right. The jobs were steady. The house was theirs.

Ten years after moving in, I moved out. I was 19.

My college was being paid for by scholarships, so my folks had a bit more scratch. They remodeled the house.

That house today looks nothing like the house I grew up in.

When family started dying, mom started drinking. It slowly got worse.

Dad doesn't drink like he used to. He drinks, just not as much. He likes to joke that in the first part of their marriage, she would carry him home, and now in the second part, he carries her home.

I really hate that joke.

I haven't been their in two years, but it sounds like things are going well with them. They are planning a trip to Ireland for their fortieth next year. They have always wanted to go there.

With my sister being pregnant, they are excited about the future.

My mom has had several jobs since the clock store shut down. Currently, she is a dental assistant. She also was a caregiver to an elderly man, but he just died earlier this year. He had no family, so she might be getting some of his money. He was loaded, and the courts are settling his estate and will.

They took a trip to Springfield last weekend to celebrate.

Here's to ya, folks.

I don't know how you did it, or whether you should have, but you did, and I'm proud of you for it.