He's My Cousin From Ohio

Dear John,

 

- and the pink PJs I bought for you!

For some reason this morning I started thinking about the movie Witness. I remembered the first time we saw it, in a theater in Durham. When the line, "He's my cousin from Ohio" came along, we both laughed out loud and everybody turned and stared at us. If you had any familiarity with the Amish/Mennonite world, the line was hysterically funny. That's when I was sure that Peter Weir knew his stuff. We were still laughing about that line twenty years later. And I was laughing this morning, driving down County Road 40 on the way to work. The line is still funny. But even funnier is remembering laughing with you years ago, the first time we saw the movie, and all those people staring at us.

 

I had expected memories like that - the shared jokes and stories - to be the most painful things of all. But I was wrong. I still laugh at the jokes and enjoy the memories. I can't say they make me feel closer to you, because these days I always feel close to you. But I feel like we're still laughing together, and that's good.

So tonight I'm smiling to myself over that line. And it feels good to remember how much fun we had being together, just enjoying each other. I'll keep enjoying the memories until I can enjoy being with you again.

Leave a light on for me,
Joan.