Sallie and I are thrilled to be included in this august group, hand-picked by Wendy and Stuart, to send notes about how wonderful they are, and how great it has been to know them, on the occasion of their 60th birthdays.
For those of you reading this who do not know us, Sallie and I owe a great debt of gratitude to Stuart, or Wendy--take your pick--for having introduced us and facilitated our marriage, way, way, way back in 1984. They never fail to remind us of this. However, they also never fail to disagree about who should have the credit.
Stuart's claim is he was responsible for arranging for me (a former employee of his at LDA, and a colleague at IU in the mid-1970s) to come to Ohio, from my home in California for a free-lance writing assignment that eventually led me to meet Sallie in Cincinnati. Wendy counters with the fact that, as the local representative of the agency (Children's Defense Fund) that actually hired me, she hosted me in Cincinnati on the day I met Sallie and appropriately briefed me for the encounter (she and Sallie had known each other for a while). After a day full of interviews for the writing assignment, she invited Sallie and I over to her home where we arranged our first date (to a Red's game--as a side note, I should mention that the weather that Sept. evening was a little cool, and having arrived without a jacket, Harley graciously loaned me one of his 44 Longs...I think I was wearing a 38 Regular at the time...and Sallie, much to her credit managed to overlook the sleeves dragging on the ground, and we had a very nice time. Thank you, Harley.)
Needeless to say, they would not be arguing about our meeting if the outcome had not been so successful. We will celebrate our 25th anniversary--thanks to Wendy!--No, thanks to Stuart!-- next year.
I suppose, while on the subject of marriages, I should let it drop there. But I should note that I have known Stuart for such a long time that I have actually met all six of his wives. Or is it four? Or three? All I know for sure, is that it was a lot of anguished phone calls. Well, finally, he got it right with Cindy, so no need to remember anymore.
Wendy, on the other hand, has been happily ensconced with Harley and her family these many years (we have rarely had an anguished phone call from Wendy, although I did have a few with Harley when we were in the same fantasy baseball league), and Wendy and Harley have graciously hosted us in their poolhouse on a couple of occasions. Stuart, on the other hand, has never invited us to his poolhouse, although I did live for a short time in his guest cottage when he lived on his Gahanna estate...but not for free. I had to cut the grass.
On this occasion of Wendy and Stuart's 60th, I want to salute Cindy and Harley... and Donald Ferguson. None of them get enough credit for all they do in having made this 60th birthday celebration such a memorable event.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
So, it's 60 years is it? Rather amazing that Stuart lasted this long, though having now met and gotten to know Wendy better, it doesn't so surprise me that she made it. The truth of the matter is that you two are getting really old. One of our teachers, a recent college grad, was asked his age by a student yesterday. "26," he replied. "OMG that is ancient" exclaimed the 15-year-old. So what I'm thinking is that you two are at least -- Double Ancient. This is something you both can use on your electronic signatures from now on (i.e. Wendy Lazarus, DA; Stuart Lazarus, DA DA). I'm sorry I didn't have the time to compose a song for Double Ancients, but maybe sometime in the future. In the mean time, here's a fitting birthday song from one of my favorite singers, http://www.conniekaldor.com/more/fun_stuff/birthday_song.html
Have a happy and here's hoping we'll be celebrating triple anchientcie with you both.
Post a Comment