288 days of Coronavirus pandemic
Today is my 42nd wedding anniversary with the resident philosopher Enrique de la Cruz, who does not habitually use PhD to his name. He has a doctorate in philosophy and mathematical logic.
Those 3 letters have enabled us to live in Leyte under a Fullbright postdoctoral fellowship where he taught research methods to graduate students. I watched him patiently teach them for 4 hours one morning, on how to write an abstract and do a research topic for their dissertation. Where did he get that patience, I asked myself?
I attended his class at CSUN, auditing it for a semester, on “Race, Racism and Critical Thinking,” where students are broken up into teams to discuss race and social issues and explore the roots of these man-made racial categories, of falsely created barriers to keep us apart.
One student came to class, wearing his sweatshirt with a hoody. In class, he slept. When we broke into groups, hubby assigned him as a workshop leader. He tried to back out. We told him he has to honor the professor’s choice. He presented what we discussed in our small group to the entire class. The next class, he sat up straight, raised his hand and interacted with the discussion. I asked my husband – did you see your student who was sleeping before come alive lately? He responded, “It’s why I assigned him to be the workshop leader.
“In our retirement, he shows that patience to our 5yo granddaughter. It is funny listening to my granddaughter reason out with her grandpa.
One time, hubby said, “You are student of the month in your preschool. That means, you have to be kind and patient.”
“Grandpa, I am kind and patient in my class where I go to school. But, here, I don’t have to be, with you.”
I laughed and I noticed my husband realized they needed to go outside and play in the backyard. Nature gives us always a new perspective.
One more story of his patient problem solving ability. For years, my husband wants us to go camping. I like glamping, glamorous camping with amenities.
Anyhow, I was thrilled to get a collapsible funnel and a wide mouth drinking container, “This will come in handy when we go stealth camping.”
Just as the heavens would test you, we were driving for hours. Then, we parked near the ocean, I believe it was in Capitola.
We decided to watch the surfers and then, the beautiful sunset. We were now faced with a choice: stay there and wait for sunrise or drive hundreds more miles without a guarantee of where we will go spend the night. We decided to stay put!
But, where do you go for #1 when the beach bathrooms and nearby restaurants are closed? I got to use his gift.
Later, I found out it was a $2 oil funnel used by car mechanics and he gave it to me, explaining how I should use it. I could not forget how much I laughed that morning. Of course, I emptied the container into the toilet as soon as the restaurant opened up and washed it for the next need.
Fast forward, we now travel with a porta potty, portable kitchen, and a collapsible sofa bed.
That’s the man I married, the love of my life. My dad said we would not last as he was divorced and a lapsed Catholic, a former altar boy.
42 years later, 44years together, we aim to be pillars of light, and away from darkness, always in service to others. A theme of our marriage is and has always been “Serve the People.”