The Right Stuff

My wife called me from the car on her way to work this morning. 

“Happy anniversary,” she said with a chuckle. 

I had completely forgotten our anniversary and so did she.  Our wedding anniversary is the day after income tax is due – April 16.  We made it that date many years ago when I was overloaded with printing tax returns for businesses and accountants at a computer center.  As April 15 approached I had been working 18 hours a day for all the last minute filings, and the day after income tax was the first day I could schedule at that time of the year. 

But it turned out that April 16 was a Saturday and my bride-to-be made pretty much all the preparations.  She ordered the cake, invited relatives and friends and even picked out my suit.  When I got up Saturday morning all I had to do was to get dressed. 

And now 32 years later the arrival of that date seems to have taken less priority than dealing with life. 

In the previous weeks our life has been what I would call “hectic.”  I have previously blogged that my daughter suffers from Crohn’s disease, and it has been acting up pretty severely recently. 

She had to go on Family Medical Leave (FMLA), a great federal program that allows her time off to go to the doctor and to the hospital to have her disease treated without getting her fired. 

But now the disease has progressed where it requires she have a scarred piece of her colon removed and the best hospital for the job is 90 miles away. 

On top of all the visits to local doctors, the Emergency Room and going through an endless array of drugs to try to make her disease manageable she has finally been referred to a surgical facility.  There is no other choice. 

She has had this operation before but it is an unpleasant experience like any operation would be.  In addition, every time she sees the surgeon or gets set up at the hospital facility, it is a 90-mile drive each way for my wife and her. 

For my part I take care of our ‘almost’ seven-year-old grandson and relieve her of that stress. 

With all the medical visits, we generally wind up together for dinner, and at least we can spend some pleasant time together. 

In addition, as the IRS deadline approached, our son Ken, who made more than a fair amount selling items on Amazon last year, was a constant visitor for the help of my accountant wife.  He also was over much of the time for dinner as well. 

We love having our kids visit, although under these circumstances, it made for a rather hectic lifestyle. 

So, April 15 came and went, and I didn’t even think that the following day was April 16, our wedding anniversary day. 

It is a good thing that my wife has a sense of humor and I certainly will reward her by suggesting we go out to dinner at a nice restaurant.  And I will pick up an anniversary card and some flowers today. 

This is an example of rolling with the punches. 

We have no say in how life goes. 

We can only try to react to circumstances thrust upon us.  And we have been married long enough not to let the little bumps disturb us.  Life is full enough of the big bumps. 

All in all life happens.