Which Reminds Me

Yes, I was visiting the college campus, the church on campus actually, and I was walking along and there coming from the other direction was Tom Shirey. He seemed happy to see a familiar face. I had not seen him since 1981, the year I graduated from college and moved away. We talked for a couple of minutes. He told me that he was now divorced. Oh, I had not even heard that he was married so this news was a surprise to me. He said that he had married a South African girl but after their marriage he flew with her to South Africa and was appalled to see firsthand the racism of her and her family. So now they are divorced. Oh, I am sorry to hear that. I don't remember what I said to this startling news. It makes me uneasy to hear this. After all, if I were go get married I would hope that it would be for the sake of me, because I am loved, and not for the sake of my crackpot relatives. Don't we all of us have family stuff that makes us uneasy, that embarrasses us and that we would rather not talk about in a public forum? One would imagine that in a marriage some icky stuff would be coped with, dealt with, accommodated, tolerated, challenged, adapted, or something for the sake of the marriage vows. So I am sorry but I don't understand about Tom.