I've been married for 38 years. My wife & I grew up in roughly two blocks of the same suburb, we shopped at the same bodega, ate lunch in the same park, & in all those years we never met each other. When I was 21 & in my second year of working at the family business I went to an advertising convention in a different city & that's where I met her. She was acting as the personal secretary for the head of sales for another company. She was 19, wearing a sensible white blouse & a green wool skirt. Her smile, with deep dimples, made me nervous to talk to her but somehow, I worked up the courage to ask her to dinner.
I knew immediately she was the woman for me. I even phoned Mom to tell her. Six months later we married in a small ceremony in that same local park where we kept missing each other. Fast forward & we have a lovely home, three wonderful grown children (two sons & a daughter) & five grandchildren. I wouldn't change my life for the world. I'm blessed & I know it. My wife is still my best friend. We've gone through rough patches (like everyone) but we still get on, we still make each other laugh & I still think she's as beautiful as the day we met.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that my life is lovely, I'm a very happy man. I wasn't looking for anything exciting to happen to me at this stage in my life. I wasn't yearning for anything, wasn't bored or restless. I was perfectly content. My wife is my favourite person, she still has beautiful dimples, we chat easily, we make love & we sleep happily beside each other every night. Our friends call us the 'clockwork couple' because we've been so dependable over the years.
A couple of years ago my daughter very generously gave me a voucher to a 'day spa' for Father's Day. I'd almost forgotten about it until a month later when Rosemary found it. At first I told her to use it but she insisted I should take advantage of it. She said it could be good for my dry skin & work stress. After a bit of encouragement & after she made the appointment in my name, I gave it a chance.
I'm not sure what I expected, perhaps a bunch of women with towels on their heads, getting their nails done. The reception area was white, with deep leather sofas, very swanky. The receptionist, or consultant I think they call them, ran through a menu of treatment options. She asked what type of service I was interested in, what my usual skincare regimen was. I was honest, except for a grocery store facial scrub & a perfume-free face cream my wife gets me to use, not much. I told her about my arthritis & the dry patches on my shoulders.
She suggested a lanolin massage for my hands & a 'coal tar treatment' for the psoriasis, then she handed me over to Elena, a Belgian girl who'd be my 'therapist'. Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather. Elena had worked as an au pair for my eldest son's kids; helped my daughter-in-law with their twin girls. At first she didn't recognise me, which didn't offend me, we only met a few times. But after I mentioned the girls she connected the dots & exclaimed "of course, Mr Doyle!" & had been very polite, asking how the girls were doing at school, asking after my wife & the business.