Old Fashioned Love by Paty Jager

When I saw the topic for this month was favorite romance—fictional or non-fictional, I sat a moment and thought about the fictional ones I’d read, nothing tugged at my heartstrings. I thought about real ones, starting with my husband and I, then worked my way through friends and family and that’s when I started to smile.

My great aunt Myrle and great uncle Roger make me smile when I think of them. Myrle was my paternal grandmother’s sister. They were as different as night and day. Where my grandmother had a perpetual frown Myrle always had a smile. We only say her and Roger a few times as they lived in Texas and we lived in Oregon, but those few times left an impact on me.

I never heard a strained word between the two. Roger always escorted Myrle where she wanted to go and gave her a peck on the cheek when he left her. They both smiled all the time and made you feel as if the smile was just for you. They laughed a lot and enjoyed including everyone into the action.

Myrle and Roger never had children. I don’t think it was by choice, but rather by fate. They were both wonderful with kids and we, my brothers and I, loved having them around. Stories my dad tells are of he and his brother staying with his aunt and uncle and the good times they had with them

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My fondest memory of the two was at a traumatic time in my life…I started my period. It was summer, my mom was at work at the medical clinic and I found myself bleeding. Of course we’d had “the video and talk” at school in Health and my mom had simply handed the pamphlet back to me when I showed it to her the day I received it.  My grandparents lived about 50 feet away from our house in a mobile home. Lucky for me, it happened to be a summer when Myrle and Roger were visiting.

To put this into perspective, my grandmother raised two boys and was partial to boys. When I went to her house and asked to speak to her in private she said to speak up. I, of course, turned beet red and that’s when Myrle took me to the side and asked what was wrong. I told her and she nodded to Roger to follow her into the kitchen. Within minutes, Roger came out of the kitchen, smiled and winked at me and donned his hat. Myrle put her arm around my shoulders and we walked back to my house talking about how this kind of think can sneak up on a person.

Twenty minutes later, Roger returned from town with a paper bag that he handed to Myrle who handed it to me. I knew what to do and expect because the whole time he was gone she answered my questions and explained how to deal with the monthly issue. The two of them said their, good-byes and walked side by side, their shoulders touching back to my grandmothers.

They became the marker I set for the relationship I wanted with my spouse. And I believe I’ve attained that and my life is richer for witnessing the tangible love they had for one another.

Is there a real life couple that you emulate or hope to emulate with your relationship with your significant other? 

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