The Fork and The Spoon

They weren't always like this. I remember them in black and white from the fifties when they were just my Favorite Aunt Gloria and my soon to be Uncle Bobby. They have changed a little over the years, but not too much. The picture above was taken on Halloween aboard the Norwegian Jewel. They went on a cruise to celebrate a landmark birthday, they are both the same age.

They are still as much fun and as playful as when they were young. I'm 15 years younger, but I feel 20 years older than them. What keeps them laughing and roaming around while I am drying up?

I look at the pictures through the years and they are always there- big smiles- not phony ones- real smiles. You can see that they enjoy the things they do. And part of that has to be that they enjoy one another.

These are the same two newlyweds who used to take me to Breezy Point when I was a kid. This is the same Aunt Gloria that took me fishing in Sheepshead Bay so many years ago.

I lost them for awhile- 25 years to be exact. Don't know why, that happens in so many families. People drift in and out of one anothers' lives. Sometimes there is a perceived slight or an argument. But that's not the case here.

They were at my wedding in 1986. He was wearing his Captain Kangaroo jacket and she wore a striped blouse with a white skirt. But shortly after that we disappeared from one anothers radar.

And then, just as suddenly,25years had passed and we were in touch again and all those years just melted away. Bobby is still the laid back person he was then and Gloria can still make me laugh just by saying hello.

So here's to the Fork and the Spoon! Thanks for all the laughter and the photos and the stories that you have passed on to me through the years.

And I think I just realized why they are so special to me- they aren't afraid to be themselves. That's the secret! They aren't afraid to be The Fork and The Spoon.