Traditions

Curled under the blankets watching the ball drop in Times Square; New Years Eve 2007. "5...4...3...2...1...HAPPY NEW YEARS". The crowd screaming, Old Lang Sine played in the background.

I reached over and pulled my wife close. This has been our tradition since we were first married. We go to an early new years eve dinner, stroll around downtown or in the park before we head home and go to bed to await the arrival of the new year. Like I said this has been our tradition, with only a few exceptions, since we were married. Most of those exceptions could not be helped, like the new years eve of 1965 when I was in a hospital in Germany because the VC decided to drop several rounds on the base just as I was loading up to come home from Vietnam. Or, the new years eve of 1970 when our daughter was born. She tried her best to have that baby early but she refused to come before she was good and ready, just like her mother. Other occasions involved work or the weather, but for the most part we have always laid in bed, waiting for the ball to drop then made love to usher in the New Year and another new start to our lives.

Softly I kissed my wife's cheek before sliding out of bed and making my way to get a cup of coffee. Sitting on the sofa I sipped my coffee looking out of the window thinking about the last 40 years, a smile crossing my face. Now don't get the wrong idea, we have had our ups and downs, just like every couple but for now all I want to think about are the good times.

We were married in 1963. She was a bubbly 20 year old, trying to fit into the free love lifestyle which was growing at the time. I was 18, fresh out of high school, just trying to fit in anywhere. We both came from traditional families, good backgrounds and "proper" up bringing. Our romance was intense and filled with passion. I remember when I first met her. I was at a pool party at friends house. I was about three sheets to the wind, my eyes closed, relaxing on a lawn chair by the pool when a shadow fell across me. As I opened my eyes I was greeted with the most wonderful lips I had ever known. (To be honest, they were only the second set of lips I had ever known.)

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