mon amour - Mon doux, mon tendreMon merveilleux amour -De l'Aube Clair jusqu'a le fin du jourJe t'aime encore, tu sais je t'aime.Jacques Brel, Chanson des Vieux Amants.Well, for me love doesn't mean never having to say I'm sorry - I ALWAYS apologize to my wife for my many Aspie snits! You see, she's infinitely more neurotypical and polite.But it's exactly what Oliver discovers Jenny expects of him. Jenny teaches uptight Oliver to spill his guts to her openly and ingenuously.Oliver’s a “Preppy.” But even Preppies fall. And Oliver fell hard.Four months before I knew that, I too - also a preppy-like guy - fell hard.And I, too, spilled my guts.And ingenuousness is a trait we, too, must now prize - my good manners or my ill manners notwithstanding.This is the perfect love story, if you've never read it.It even ends in tears.But after Jenny dies tragically young, Oliver teaches forgiveness to the Ice Man that is his rich old father.What comes around, goes around.***I'm an old softie. My grandmother taught me that...In 1970, when this book and the concurrent Ryan O'Neil/Ali McGraw film were released, I thought I'd take her to a matinee screening at the Elgin Theatre.She was then nearly 71, and frail. I told her we were going for a drive, en route to giving her a Christmas present.When she saw the theatre marquee where I pulled up, she was teary-eyed. She hugged me.And we of course wept our buckets throughout...***Gotta tell you, when I start each day I'm neurodivergent. At the end of each day, however - once my meds do their work - I'm more neurotypical.I've been taking advantage of that latter effect by mainly writing new reviews at night, when all's quiet.But today we mark the close of another International Neurodiversity Week (I've now signed up for 2024, and I'll celebrate it here on Goodreads).And so perhaps, time permitting, I'll try to review new books in the morning, in future!***This is a wonderful story. And now, saying I'm sorry sounds worn and trite when, like me, you have the dwindling energy of a creaky septuagenarian.So Jenny's right.And what comes around, goes around. Quiet attentive forgiveness is natural to us both now.And it happens naturally when you approach the fifty year milestone of your marriage.
