WORDS OF WISDOM TO THE YOUNG

Part of the retirement plan was to buy a small bolt-hole in the Swiss Alps and gradually spend more time there. This worked for me, but not my husband. He gets easily bored. So as we grow older we are spending more and more time apart.

Some people might think this strange but in our wild, wonderful, hippy youth we came across a book called The Profit by Kahil Gibran and in this little treasure was written

"And what of Marriage, master?"
And he answered saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.
Drink, but not from the same cup, let there be spaces in your togetherness.”

So, there are spaces in our togetherness and we drink not from the same cup. This is what makes our marriage work. And while I spend my time luxuriating at the Health Spa in glorious sunny Switzerland, my dear husband spends his time renovating and extending our house in the UK. Result! Here endeth the first lesson!