Teenage love story - Part II
OK, so now I really regret committing myself to this, and wonder if I actually finished this story in deciding to, because in typing it up I felt myself going red and hot and wanting to disappear somewhere, and thanks to Craig over here (who obviously has a blog readership a lot wider than mine) people might actually READ it - and I may never live this down! This is where it all gets a little overdone, schmaltzy and really quite 'preachy', and I was very sorely tempted to edit it (I now prefer the moralising in my fiction to be just a little more subtle), but I’d feel a little dishonest, now that I am, well, older than sixteen. So, please, bear in mind that I had to manipulate the poem into the story (the italicised parts), and I have a vague memory of being very disgruntled by the classroom discussion of this poem, so obviously I was going to make my point, and then well and truly drive it home, here (my English teacher was actually a non-Christian, divorced, single-Mum and I don’t know how she could stand for it, but that’s us at my Year 12 formal in the photo – and yes, my dress is pink taffeta, and my cheeks are chubby and my hair's all poofy - so obviously we survived my story). Anyway, without further ado, I shall proceed with the nothing:
When Susannah reentered the room in a comfortable tracksuit she had a somewhat sheepish look on her face, and it didn’t take long before she have an apology to her husband equally as passionate as her former outburst. She had never been able to stay angry for more than five minutes once she’d had a good rage – a fact her husband inwardly rejoiced about because she had a very fiery temper. She knew she really must learn a bit more self-control and always painfully regretted her outbursts of emotion, but she seemed born with an urge to let the world know how she felt at any particular moment.
“I really am sorry sweetheart, I just had a bad day and I feel a bit exhausted. Please forgive me?” she pleaded.
“In understand honey,” Mark answered, which was not just an empty word of sympathy because after five years of sharing their lives together Mark felt that he really did understand his wife’s character. Susannah had a wonderful way of expressing her feelings but he had discovered that she really wasn’t that forward with her emotions considering the proportion she kept hidden within her.
Susannah proceeded to tell him all about the maddening little events of her day and found that she had to laugh, because it really was quite funny, and by the time she’d finished she was feeling very calm and happy and thinking how fortunate she was to have such a husband as the one she now laughed with.
They sat down at the table for a cup of coffee together.
After telling her a few of the events of his day Mark casually picked up a magazine lying on the table. He’d flipped over a few pages when the heading “10 ways to make a marriage work” caught his eye. He usually scorned the cheap advice given by trashy philosophers that was always published in magazines and was just about to slam it shut when he glanced at the top of the page which read:
“Those in love must remain complete people
first unto themselves –
and then to each other.”
No wonder so many people got divorced if thoughts such as that were acted upon. [Can’t quite believe I wrote that – oh the idealism of youth, when, of course, I had all the answers.]
“Listen to this honey” he said and then read the sentence to her.
“Just imagine where our marriage would be if we followed this philosophy?” he queried.
Susannah pondered this for a moment then nodded her head in agreement. Since that beautiful day when she had committed herself to her husband she had learnt that in a marriage, or for any true relationship to survive, the way God intended it, there had to be a hundred percent giving all the way from both partners. The instant you put yourself first in any relationship the basis for that relationship started sliding away. [Ok, so now I am really THOROUGHLY embarrassed.]
For a few minutes each of them sat silent wrapped in their own thoughts, yet always conscious of the other’s presence. During that time they both came to the conclusion that a marriage went far beyond love and romance and from that day on their union was all the richer for this realisation or revelation from God, whichever it may be. [Arrghh! So I still believe that's true, but I just wouldn't spell it out quite like that, or include divine intervention.]
Only slightly breaking the reverie, Mark came up with the suggestion:
“How about we just leave this mess for a while and go and have an early tea at ‘George’s’ and then see if we can’t find some new curtains for the kitchen, and then you can come back and do your typing and I’ll straighten up this place.”
Susannah smiled appreciatively at her husband. They finished their coffee then the two of them left the house together arm in arm and could have fooled any ignorant stranger into thinking they had just returned from their honeymoon [did I really have to add that last part?].
They strolled into ‘George’s’ and had a nice simple meal at their favourite table in the corner of the low-key restaurant and then wandered down the street looking in shop windows for anything that caught their eye, which could make their house a little homelier.
They entered a shop and Susannah had just purchased the much-desired new kitchen curtains and was on her way to rejoin her husband in the hardware section when he was spotted by one of his business associates. They started into a friendly chat before he noticed Susannah and turning to Mark he asked:
“And who is this lovely woman with you Mark?,” making a fairly logical guess at the truth.
With a wink and a grin in Susannah’s direction, Mark answered, somewhat dramatically “This is the one I love!”.
THE END
Anyway, so the other thing this blog isn’t going to be is teenage love stories - I promise! But I made the guy into a nice kind of domestic hero don’t you think :). (I grew up without any males as part of my daily life, and wonder if I just created a woman called Mark.)