I visited Ireland this summer. I don't want to write recommendations about places to visit, but I would like to share with you a moment, a couple's existence, which delighted me beyond measure.
She is dressed in a linen suit with long
fuchsia pants. She is friendly, talks to everyone, smiles, makes jokes,
although she can also be sarcastic.
He is dressed in a plaid shirt, olive pants,
boots, and a wide-brimmed hat. He seems grumpy, and he is, he is sarcastic,
sharp, but also funny, and he recites long poems, but too quickly for the
message of the poems to reach his listeners.
They are certainly over 60 years old, but their
chemistry is palpable. They sit outside in the wind at night and play a card
game. They talk, laugh, and look up at the stars from time to time, despite the
younger people who don't dare to go outside because of the wind.
They are not in their first marriage, I hear
later when they come in and engage in conversation with others who have stayed
inside to enjoy their drinks in the warmth. She has two sons, who are quite
religious, perhaps too much so for his liking.
They are kind to each other, teasing each other
without any hidden meaning or reproaches. There is a sweet familiarity between them
that makes everyone around them envious and feeling lucky to be witnesses to such
a clear example of love, appreciation, and support. This example is more astonishing since they are at an age when, supposedly, we think there's maybe only indifference or disillusionment.
Long may they live and, behold, there is hope!
