The Love Letter

By Pat McManus

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Dear Dick and Jane,

 

I am most flattered by the invitation to write something to be read at your wedding. I have had only one wedding myself, 53 years ago, and so I am not greatly familiar with the form. My wife, Bun, and I were in college at the time and very poor. After the wedding, we returned to the apartment house where I worked, and I cleaned the furnace. It was a short honeymoon. That evening, however, I took Bun to see a western movie starring Randolph Scott. She has hated westerns ever since.

 

The reason I am so pleased with your wedding is that each of you grew up reading my books. There is no greater test for compatibility. Clearly, both of you are possessed of a fine sense of humor, the one ingredient necessary to a long and happy marriage. It is the children, however, that I’m concerned about. Once they are old enough to read, you should keep a sharp eye out that they do not haul the McManus books down off a shelf and start to read them. As you may have noticed, there are no warnings on the books. What if the children were to take it upon themselves to build rafts out of fence posts and float them down rain-swollen creeks, or worse yet, build a sewer-pipe cannon for the purpose of firing a croquet ball down a golf course fairway? Sure, these are wonderful amusements for youngsters, and no doubt you, Dick and Jane, have whiled away many a summer hour in such innocent pursuits. But please do keep an eye on the children.

 

Marriage should be a great adventure. Bun and I have four grown daughters, nine grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. We dragged our kids not merely around the United States, up rivers and over mountains, and through weather fair and foul; we packed them on planes and ships and hauled them with us all over the world. Now, when we look back from our fairly lofty ages, we often say to each other about those days, “We must have been crazy!” I think we were crazy. So my advice to you in the years ahead is remember to be a little crazy and to treat your marriage as a grand adventure. But how could it not be, for two devoted fans of my books?

 

Best wishes,

 

 

Pat McManus