Today Claire, the Love of my Life and my best friend, celebrate our fifty years of being married and yet it only feels like yesterday that we met. So I asked myself as I reflect back over the fifty years how can this be? I remember first meeting Claire when I was in Officer Candidate School at Fort Belvoir, Va. I had a weekend pass and I was at a club in Alexandria Va when I saw her sitting with her friends. We hit it off right away, however, at the end of the night we went our separate ways except I was lucky enough to have Claire give me her phone number. For the net few weeks we conversed over the phone as passes were hard to come by. Anyway our graduation was soon approaching and I asked Claire to our Graduation Dance. The rest is history. After I graduated I went to Fort Eustis and Claire and I dated a few times. I took her to meet my parents in Massachusetts where she not only met my parents but also Grandmother. It was my Grandmother who said she was a keeper and boy was she right. I was so lucky when I asked her to marry me and she said yes.
Before we left my parents my Dad gave me some advice about being married which I tried to live by. He said marriage was a fifty/fifty partnership that involved compromise. Dad then went on to explain that sometimes you will get what you want and sometimes Claire will but in the end it will equal out. He also said never go to bed angry with each other and always say at the end of the day you love her.
So with that advice under my belt I went off to Germany. Claire came over about three months later and we were married First by the local German mayor and then in Chapel at Benjamin Franklin Village Mannheim Germany. At that point we began our journey together as husband and wife. Fortunately at that time Germany was not very expensive so our honeymoon took us to Bavaria, Austria, and Switzerland. Oh by the way the last two days was funded on the change I saved in a plastic pumpkin that Claire sent me for halloween. What we learnt on our honeymoon and our time in Germany that if we had issues we needed to talk them out. Why because we could not afford to call home for advice. It was the best thing that ever happen to us. We truly bonded as one in Germany.
Now many know I was a career officer however I never could have been one if Claire was not 100 per cent supported of my decision to stay in the Service. Right after Germany I was deployed to Vietnam. During that tour Claire became very ill and had to have a major surgery to the point without it she would have died. You know the Army had me home and at her bedside within 24 hours. That was truly the turning point in my decision to stay as I believed no other organization would have taken care of her that well.
Being a military spouse is not easy and to be honest with you I never truly knew how difficult it could be until I retired. Why because when I was deployed I was focused on my mission and not really focusing on how things were going at home. Yes it was Claire who at times was the sole parent responsible for raising our three beautiful children, Hieka, Chris, and Matt and on top of that worrying about me being overseas.
I truly believe because of Claire’s love and devotion and support I was able to do what I loved. So to all who know a military family say thank you to the spouses and children.
Just the other day Claire and I were talking about our three lovely children, Hieka, Chris and Matt. I said to her the good Lord put us on this earth to have them so that they could make a difference in this world and that they are doing.
Hieka and her Husband Paul are very active in the Foster Care Program in New Jersey. They have fostered children and have adopted two beautiful children, Zoey and Alex. In addition Hieka has become a spoke person for Foster Parents and with others have recently created a non-profit group to assist families through the myriad of paperwork and challenges facing todays foster families. Currently she is completing her Masters in social work.
Our son Chris has taken a different pass. Not only has he given us to beautiful grandchildren, Aiden and Teagan. He is also making positive influences on other young children. He has become a special education teacher and now teaches in one of the largest, if not the largest inner school systems on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He received his Master in Education and is now working on his Masters in Administration. Like his sister he is also making his mark in the education area and I have no doubt he will be a senior administrator making positive changes for our young children in the near future.
Our youngest son Matt works for the Bowie Baysox but devotes his free time to coaching young children on how to play Hockey. His quiet demeanor and knowledge of the game has proven a great gift on teaching the young players not only the basics of the game but more important team work and the art of working together. I also suspect one day he will be a high school or college hockey coach. This weekend he is in Toronto with his young team playing in a tournament.
So as you can see I am a very blessed to have met the Love of Life and my best friend a little over fifty years ago today.
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Topic: Married fifty years today to the Love of My Life and Best Friend (Read 1187 times)