STILL HAPPY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

CATHLEEN AND RICH TODAY

Cathleen first appeared in TALES FROM THE FRONT in 1986. It was a column about bad lines and one really good one.

To recap: One night, Cathleen and a friend were hanging out at a bar, “two dateless wonders in our early 30s.”

“At 5:30 p.m., the place was empty. One young guy, clearly younger than us, circled. We figured he was working on his approach. Finally, he swooped in and said ‘You girls sure like to guzzle that wine.’ We sent him away with a ‘go work on your opening lines, son. You have work to do.’

“At 10 p.m., we were still there guzzling that wine. Now the place was wall-to-wall people, but not a soul had spoken to us in four and a half hours. Then I spied Mr. Peepers in a brown leisure suit (I am not making this up) spin through the revolving door. As he catapulted into the crowd, I said to my friend, ‘See that guy yonder? He’s going to find us.’ Sure enough, 10 minutes later, he had fought his way over. He was huffing and puffing, smoothing back the very thin hair on his head. His line: ‘You girls look like mountain climbers!’”

Cathleen’s luck needed to change and it did. She was walking into the dry cleaners. Rich was walking out. She saw him and was thinking, "Why don't I ever meet guys like that?" when suddenly he said the line to beat all lines:

"Aren't you Cathleen?"

Turns out they had met 14 years ago through a mutual acquaintance and had spoken for 10 minutes. They had met again the next year and spent a few minutes talking then, too. That was it -- until the dry cleaners.

"My first impression was that he was a great guy, warm, friendly, down-to-earth. I knew at the very least he would be a friend for life. He was also a policeman. He’d been a copper for 13 years and I asked him how many times he’d fired his service revolver. I wanted to check the Dirty Harry factor. He said, ‘Twice, but only once was I really aiming.’ That was good enough for me.”

(Rich recently retired with 30 years of service, five commendations, and countless honorable mentions.)

After two months they decided to get married. As far as she’s concerned, all the terrible lines she heard over the years were just preparation for the one great one: "Aren't you Cathleen?"

Now here’s the update. Cathleen says she laughed a little when she read the old column. “I still mean every word, but after 24 years together, we both know about the little sections of yarn that are just a tad unraveled. Still, I’m a regular counter of blessings, and among them is my chivalrous husband.

“I recently took a train to meet him at our weekend vacation home, where we were celebrating our 24th wedding anniversary. It was a very stormy Friday, so I had my umbrella ready. As I stepped off the train, there was my smiling husband, waiting for me in the driving rain, giant golf umbrella in hand. I couldn't help thinking how lucky I am and have been since the day I heard ‘Aren't you Cathleen?’"

Have you been happily married for a long time? Send your tale and your secrets, along with your questions and problems to cheryllavin@aol.com.