The marriage.... Part-1

We were married in 1985 surrounded by friends and family. It is a wonder that we had made it that far because there had been tremendous pressure from her side of the fence to make things official. As a people I must characterize Arabic folks as a deeply passionate people. Emotions run very high all of the time and on a scale of 1-10 they are always at 10 in terms of driving towards the objective of the moment. They are also a very traditional people and long engagements are virtually unheard of, in an effort of course to head off things that could go wrong and possibly impune the reputation of the couple, especially the woman. It can be exceedingly difficult to marry off a daughter or sister who was previously engaged as the merchandise may already have been taken for a ride if you catch my drift. I was adament however that I would finish college before I married fearing that I would invariably be forced into choosing between the equally important tasks of becoming a full time provider and a college graduate. The latter of course would determine the level of my ability to fulfill the first.

In the end, I compromised and we married prior to my final semester. This was achieved in part by living with my folks at the start. Now, please bear in mind that I have always been a person vested with quite a bit of luck..... unfortunately, all of it was usually BAD luck. It was winter of 1985 and the nation was in the midst of a grand recession. All around us belts were being tightened and companies were reducing workforces or maintaining the status quo. People who could retire were afraid to.....blah, blah, blah.....sound familiar people of 2009?