PP: 39-40 — On the leisurely drive back to the Delta, my Fiance explained in detail to me, sitting very close beside me (cars then didn’t bother with center consoles) as I drove, the details and Rules of marriage as she planned for ours to be. Me, I was still involved in contemplation of the Body Beautiful Beside Me! She’d gone beyond that to our six kids (and when that came up a decade later, she sweetly said, “Okay, I’ve had my three — your turn now!” But when I mentioned Hagar in the Bible, she replied, “You know, I don’t believe in divorce; but I DO believe in murder.”) but we ended up with three — of our own, and countless others.
She also had already planned ahead on our wedding, six months away. My wedding ring was going to have “MTY/LTT” engraved on the inside, where it wouldn’t ever wear off. “What’s that mean?” I of course asked.
“Means ‘More Than Yesterday and Less Than Tomorrow'” she replied in a dreamy voice. “That’s how it’s going to be with us: we’re going to love each other more every day of our lives, starting right now, because this ring you gave me is not just an engagement ring.” She turned my face to her as we stopped at a red light in Hattiesburg. “We are now not just ‘engaged’ to be wed. I prefer the Biblical word: we are now ‘Betrothed.’ You promised to be true to Just Me, and I promise to be true to Just You. You’ve never known another girl, and I’ve never known another boy, in the Biblical sense. That’s the way it’s going to stay. No messing around. No Divorce. You are mine and I am yours, till death do us part. Understand?”
The light changed, so I drove on, nodding. Yet at the next light I turned to her and said earnestly: “I understand all that, Betsy, and I’m all yours, but what I still don’t understand is: Why Me? You could have any boy you wanted: handsome, rich, got a horse farm, whatever. Why am I so lucky? So Blessed?”
She stretched as the light changed, seriously distracting my driving as I focused on that PiKA pin still attached to that green sweater. She always enjoyed my mirations. Then she snuggled up still closer and leaned her head on my shoulder. “Well, let’s just put it like this: I chased you until you caught me.” She kissed my ear.
Women! Over 55 years later, I still don’t understand Why Me.