Wait Joins the Group

Here I am bringing some of the characters from my book The Handel Letters to life again to see what our thinking about Handel and his times might inspire in us today.

From Wait:  I did finally respond to Katherine’s email about restarting our group.  And I wanted to comment on the discussion about marriage—and then, of course, to say a little about what I have been up to these past few years. So, yes, I would be one of those people who defend the idea of marriage as a good and even necessary thing.  That doesn’t mean it is necessary for everyone—not at all.  But the traditional, religious, and legal contract it represents has served me and my family very well.  I think my wife would agree, but you may have a chance to hear from her at a later time.  I’ve suggested she might want to join us.

So, my own opinion on marriage is that it is a kind of touchstone for guiding your personal life.  You probably expected me to say that it is great because it is supported by the bible, and that is true, I like adhering to Christian practices.  But I also think it simply helps me decide what actions may or may not be best for me—yes, for me.  I think being married helps me live my life in a way that makes me a better human than I would be if I weren’t married.  Marriage is a commitment, and I believe that trying to keep our commitments makes us each a better human.  There will be times when that commitment will seem burdensome or boring or even painful, but it is a commitment, and we should try to keep it—for our own sake, really, to simply be a good human, as good a human as we can be.

So, that was my opinion on marriage.  What have I been up to over the last decade? Well, I just recently sold my club.  It was a hard thing to do.  I really enjoyed managing that place.  But I lost touch with what people wanted to hear or do at a club—really what that outlet meant after the down time of the pandemic.  I was pumping more and more of my own time and money into the place without getting much back in return.  And neither of my kids were into that kind of work, and neither were the grandkids. So, Patty and I are free birds now with some time to travel.  Our kids live out of state, so travel is important for that.  But we also made a trip to France, something we’ve always wanted to take time to do but couldn’t because of the club.  It was a great trip.  I’m ready to go back and see more.