SELF MADE WOMAN
After 57 Years of Marriage, I Asked My Wife a Question I Had Never Asked Before
Her answer surprised me
We had been listening to a very old tape recording of us playing Candy Land with our youngest daughter. Hearing my wife’s young voice from all those years ago made me remember that how she chose her words was part of why I fell in love with her; her grammar and vocabulary, her clear diction and phrasing had impressed me.
It was what I was used to. No one in my family would say “If she was here” or “He is older than me.” Of course both of those are quite common today, but they still make my lips purse. “He gave it to her and I” and “Her and me like pizza” make my eyes roll — and I hear them all too often. But not from my wife.
She was born in the United States to English speaking parents. Her father had been drafted in the Navy for World War II when he met her mother; and was quickly deployed to sea. Her mother could not cope with raising a child alone, so she gave over her child to her father’s parents and began divorce proceedings.
My wife was fourteen months old. Those grandparents were Italian immigrants who did not speak English well. She was surrounded by young cousins who spoke English, but their grammar was not perfect and their…
