Full Disclosure

Who would have guessed that a husband and wife who kept an old clunky TV in the closet and rolled it down the hall once a week for the first twenty years of their marriage? On the occasion of her 73^rdbirthday (today), I wrote a birthday card to my wife based on the various TV shows we’ve watched, most from the pandemic onward, but some from the earlier years.

 

I could blame it on being retired— no classes to plan at night or report cards. My upstairs neighbors piano curfew (9:00 pm). Busy days doing a wide variety of involved activities and just needed some veg out time. Or attribute it to the deliciously addictive nature of high quality TV serials that hook you in and leave you wanting more, the way good books do. Whatever the reason, it appears we’ve watched a lot of shows together! So I wrote a card based on their titles, having to leave out some 10 to 20 chows that simply wouldn’t translate (Seinfeld, Downton Abbey, Broadchurch, Mare of Eastown, Deadwind, Foyle’s War etc.).

 

Happy birthday to my wife Karen and hope the readers enjoy the card. (Or discover some shows they didn’t know about that they now will enjoy!). 

 

A birthday message to my Good Wife:

 

Cheers to you on your 73^rd birthday!. For 41 years on 2^nd Avenue, this is still Our Place to Call Home. 49 years walking The Streets of San Francisco together, enjoying restaurants like Narai, Elisa’s, Alice’s, fighting TheGood Fight in various marches and rallies, walking through the park enjoying All Creatures Great and Small, crossing The Bridge to Marin. We never had to go to the Office with school as our Family Business, our Family Affair. 

 

We got out of the Chair and traveled far and wide, listening to Mozart in the Jungle, enjoying an Atlantic Crossing, Occupied with our work studying, observing and collecting art and music. When we need complicated flight arrangements, you reminded me to Call My Agent, The Marvelous Ms Connie. We never visited the Durells in Corfu, nor have been to Shetland nor danced a Last Tango in Halifax, but still we’ve Endeavored to see much of the world. 

 

Every summer, we’ve gone off to our own Seaside Hotel and am happy to report that there have been no Murders at the Lake, nor Murders in the Building and we’ve never had to call in Inspector Morse, Scott and Bailey or Lupin nor needed the services of The Extraordinary Attorney Woo or the Lincoln Lawyer.

 

Of course, alongside the pleasures and joys, there have been Damages, Collateral and otherwise. We’ve sometimes been up Schitt’s Creek, had to put out Little Fires Everywhere to avoid the Split or the complexity of a Bonus Family, when I get too loud, you tell me “Curb Your Enthusiasm”and after all these years, there are still moments when we each could say to each other “You Don’t Know Me.” But out of the swamp, the White Lotus has always bloomed. I hope that our tenacity and faithfulness will be forever Unforgotten. 

 

It’s a Different World than when we began, but on the occasion of your birthday, I hereby put  The Crown on your head and wish you many glorious years to come.