Saturday, July 10, 2010

55 Years of Marriage

As we entered Canada to begin our celebration of 55 years together, we both felt elated, and slightly bemused. How after all, did we reach this advanced stage? We have remained happily married for nearly 75 percent of our lives. Somehow, this aging thing remains a weird phenomenon. Not only is 75 years old a strange thing—how does one reach 75, except a day at a time, but that means 27,375 days at a time. And 55 years of marriage . . . wow! We both said “I Do” 20,075 days ago.

Well, we’re here, and the nice man at the border let us in without incident. Why do we drive all the way to Canada to celebrate this important day? Because Niagara-on-the-Lake remains in our view one of the prettiest towns in the world, and we have seen many towns, pretty or not.




We also came to sit across from one another at The Peller Estate Winery and toast one another—“To Us” is our standard toast. The winery, in addition to producing fine wines, specializes in a “Chef’s Choice” meal, in which we indulged. Basically, the chef decides the content of our seven course meal, and which wines will be paired with each course. The menu is below.



We sat for over three hours being pampered, wined and dined amidst a beautiful setting and enjoying a wonderfully cool, clear atmosphere. After, we were invited to meet the chef and his staff of wonder-makers.
As the sun set, the evening cooled and the winery became an enchanted place, with wonderful light and breezes.


We toasted each other before and after our dining experience, and chatted in between mouthfuls. Because we like one another, we chat a lot. We have discovered that dining is more than simply ingesting food. Dining is primarily a social enterprise, in which we share our thoughts with each other. Such experiences may go a long way to defining how we arrived at 55 years of a solid marriage.

So, “To Us”



Beyond the three hour dining experience, of course, Niagara-on-the-Lake offers much for couples in love. They offer a Shaw theatre festival each year, with plays at three theatres by GB Shaw or Shaw contemporaries. We attended “One Touch of Venus”, and “Harvey”. Both plays feature intelligent dialogue and not much action, both of which we applaud.

The region also hosts many fine Canadian wineries, which we visit, and taste-test, and, yes, buy.

Because our anniversary falls one day after Canada Day, we also get to see how Canadians pay their respect to their nation. Artists, artisans and craftsmen visit the town and offer their wares for sale. Beauty amidst such natural beauty provides a fine venue for sheer pleasure, and placed a veneer on our total experience.


So, onto the next 55.

The Journey continues.

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