Guest Blogger Week: A love story
barry had a thing for jeane, his boss at the hartford courant newspaper.barry has never beaten around a single bush in his life.jeane was engaged. barry was crushed.barry asked: hey, are there any more like you at home? jeane, ever eager to set up her little sister, ann, told him she would see what she could do.jeane decided shortly thereafter to ‘forget’ her umbrella, requiring ann to bring it down to the office to bring it. ann gave jeane the ok, after seeing barry. one date. ann was 17.barry took her to the howard johnson’s for dinner and dessert (it was the early 1960s, this was a swank spot, barry swears). he had apple pie with chocolate ice cream and told ann he was going to marry her.she laughed. this was a man eating apple pie with CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM.she was in high school. christian. from the rightest of the right side of the tracks. her father ran an insurance company. wore well-made shoes. sent the kids to the colleges of their choice. barry was 20. in college. jewish. the son of parents who fled the holocaust. his father sold fruit. struggled for what they had. barry got a scholarship to college and law school. self-made.the ethics of the old countries (austria and russia) pervaded his household. not insurmountable, but certainly challenging. barry’s persistence landed him the girl.they married in 1968 at the chapel on the Wesleyan campus—a chapel where i would often go, to sit, when i felt homesick, when I was a student at Wesleyan. it holds the thrill of their love, still. last june my sister and i threw a 40th anniversary party for our parents.they are as enamored of each other as those in the first throes of puppy love. i can’t imagine anything they would not do for each other. it is of the utmost importance that they have time to snuggle in the morning.they celebrate the anniversary of their first date on bastille day, conveniently a day that already provides fireworks over their chosen home of san francisco. it’s a lot to aspire to, the love they have. surreal and bulletproof and ever-evolving.it is a blessing, to be the daughter of a great romance.
Written by Kate.
