November 25, 20214 yr I'm thankful for my Betty, my wife of 58 years. Our marriage didn't evolve out of romantic courtship. There wasn't time for that. I was a single father, a widower, with a 1 year old daughter. Betty was a single mom with a 1 year old daughter. I was looking for a mother for my daughter and she was looking for a father for hers. Additionally I needed a wife if I was going to continue my military career. I had been living at home after my first wife died and my Mom didn't like Betty at all. I don't know why. She asked one of my old high school girlfriends to try and break us up but she liked Betty and wouldn't try it. Mom said the marriage wouldn't last because it was based on convenience instead of love. The love came later after we had our own children; first another girl and then a boy. We travelled from Air Force base to Air Force base and she was left alone with the children during my deployment to Southeast Asia. When i got orders to go back to Vietnam I was just a couple of months away from my re-enlistment date so I got out and started a civilian career. First as an electronic technician and later a development engineer. Sixteen years later I joined the Colorado Air Guard to finish out my time for retirement. Betty supported me through all of this. She was a stay at home mom until the kids were able to care for themselves after school. It wasn't easy on a staff sergeant's pay but things got better after I got out and started working as a civilian. She followed me on our backpacking trips. We went fly fishing together. She was 8 months pregnant with our son the first time she fired a 12 gauge shotgun. I found my perfect mate. Now here we are 58 years later in a marriage we were told wouldn't last. A marriage that began as a convenience but later turned into love. A great of it due to her patience and understanding. She's now a bent over old lady with osteoperosis and I am a half lame old man with arthritic feet and a balance problem. You know, there are three lives in a marriage. The husband's life, the wife's life, and the together life. We both understood that. So thanks Betty for just being you. Noel The tires are worn. The shocks are shot. The steering is wobbly. But the engine still runs fine.
November 25, 20214 yr Lovely story, Noel. Thank you for sharing. Joel Murray @ CYVR (actually, somewhere about halfway between CYNJ and CZBB)
November 25, 20214 yr Your pure love story surely beats out any Hallmark story - it almost got this dude's eyes to mist up...
November 25, 20214 yr You've lived a blessed life there, birdguy. Congrats! 5800X3D, RTX4070, 600 Watt, one or two 1440p 32" screens, 64 GB RAM, 4 TB PCle 3 NVMe, Warthog throttle, VKB NXT EVO stick, Honeycomb Alpha yoke, CH quad, 3 Logitech panels, 2 StreamDecks, Desktop Aviator Trim Panel. Crystal Light VR.
November 25, 20214 yr An example for others to follow. Well done, and may you reach 60 years together 😍
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