Love affair in a Town Car

The Wife and I went to a party the other night with some friends. Now I know that may surprise you that after almost five years of writing a weekly newspaper article we still have a few friends who wouldn’t mind being seen out in public with us, but have no fear. The good friends were hers – I just went along for the ride.

And what a ride it was! All the way to the north side of Lawrenceville we went. To a huge red brick house with hardwood floors, imported rugs, crystal chandeliers, priceless knick-knacks — which yours truly didn’t dare touch — and the best food and exotic desserts I’d ever tasted. But even though it was by far the most lavish dinner party this fireman has ever attended, being there was not the best part of the evening. Nope. It was the ride up and back and what we witnessed along the way which made the evening unforgettable.

The Wife and I arrived at her friends’ house ten minutes early as the last finger rays of orange sunlight reached across the sky. The Wife, she drove. “A good start to the evening,” I thought. “If I had driven, we would’ve been ten minutes late.”

She introduced me to her friends, they showed us around their big house on the edge of a crystal-clear lake, and then we all proceeded toward the garage. When we reached the garage, he asked her if he could drive. She tossed him the keys and replied, “Only if you drive right.” Unbeknownst to us, it was the beginning of Act One: “A love affair in the front seat of a Town Car.”

It seems the longer couples stay married, the stranger some of the things they do become. Even the simplest things can become a unique dance of love and doting over one another. Like their disagreements. As we looked on from our vantage point of the back seat, a unique play was acting itself out before our eyes. It was apparent that they had danced this dance many times before. He didn’t give an inch in his arguments throughout the long ride and neither did she.

About the time we passed the Varsity, it started to sprinkle. Not knowing just what kind of food was awaiting us at the dinner party, I was going to ask them to stop. A friendly jab to the ribs with an elbow from The Wife informed me that that wasn’t such a good idea after all. It started to rain harder as we passed the red “V” and Act Two in the front seat was about to begin. She asked him if he was going to turn on his wipers – it was getting hard to see.

A logical request, I thought.

He told her he didn’t have any trouble seeing; besides, he was the one driving. “Well, I do!” She replied tartly.

He continued with his justification, “If I turn them on now I’ll tear up my wiper blades. All those bugs on the windshield will cut into the rubber and ruin them. We need to wait a little while until the rain can soften them up. If we don’t, they’ll just smear all over the windshield and we won’t be able to see anything at all.”

The Wife’s friends in the front seat were oblivious to what we witnessed. On the way up to the party and during our return home, what we observed were two soul mates who had somehow found each other. So happy and content with their relationship they could have a longstanding, and as of yet unresolved, argument about something so simple as when to cut on the windshield wipers.

Now I don’t contend I can remember the name of any of the attendees. I can’t. Instead what I do remember from that special evening is, even through the friendly verbal sparring over bugs on a windshield, the love and affection I saw two people could still have for one another shining through the cold winter night. Warming not only the front seat, but also the back.

I never found out how long they had been married. Didn’t know if they had children or whether it was their first marriage, second or third. None of that seemed to matter that night. It was obvious they had found something. Something truly rare only shared with your soul mate. It was what most search their entire life for and never find. It has seemed like a lifetime, but thanks to The Wife I have finally found it also.

On this Valentine’s Day, give the rarest gifts of all one can give. The gifts searched for but rarely found – the unconditional caring, love and warmth of another person.