If you are friends with me on Facebook, you would have seen a picture I posted this morning.  The picture was of my laptop keyboard, and on it was a greeting card, a chocolate candy bar, and a BIG box of Jelly Belly jelly beans.  Today is Ted’s and my 33rd wedding anniversary!  Counting as well the two years I knew him before we got married,  Ted and I have been best friends for 35 years now!

So where were the flowers you ask?  Phshawww.  He knows better than to get me flowers.  Flowers are expensive and don’t last.  Candy is more pleasing to this sugar-craving palate and I can share, too.

I love Jelly Belly jelly beans!  They are my favorite snack for when I have to make a long driving trip where I am doing the drivng.    I like to have a mixed bag where I can reach in and grab one, then put it blindly in my mouth (so I don’t see it – duh – I’m driving and I can’t close my eyes).  You see, it helps to keep me awake.  I slowly work on smashing that little beaner in my mouth while trying to guess the flavor.  My taste buds are firing, my mind is taking inventory on familiar flavors, and the little burst of sugar all work together to keep me from dozing.

I love all flavors of Jelly Belly jelly beans that I’ve ever tasted except for one.

Buttered Popcorn.

Jelly beans are supposed to be sweet.  And fruity.  They are candy.  A buttered popcorn flavored jelly bean is just plain nasty.  I mean, there’s no crunch, no butter on your fingers to lick, and the texture is all wrong,

My anniversary box of jelly beans has 20 flavors, all segregated in their own separate little cubby so I can pick and choose and savor them one at a time.  All except for the buttered popcorn ones.  It’s great to have so many kinds to choose from.

Thirty three years ago Ted and I were busy opening up wedding presents.  The very sweet little old lady that lived across from my parents gave Ted and I a small wrapped gift as well.  We weren’t expecting Mrs. Greenfield to spend money on a gift for us.  Inside the small square box there rested a little crystal orb, about one and half to two inches in diameter.  When you moved it around, you could see all colors of the rainbow reflect through the facets.  It was just a little knick knack thingy.  Not even big enough to use as a paper weight.  The most meaningful part of the gift was the note attached.  It read:

May your married life together be as many faceted as this colorful ball.

Mrs. Greenfield’s best wishes for us have certainly come true through the years!  We’ve weathered job changes, raised three daughters, have traveled places, and weathered both the good and the bad.  I still have that colorful little orb sitting on my dresser.  Through the years it often became a play thing for our young daughters, so the shiny faceted surface has weathered several nicks and bumps .  Sorta how life is, huh?

So it seemed rather fitting that, as I reflect on being married forever, or at least for 33 years, that like my many-flavored box of jelly beans, I can look back at years filled with many flavors of life. And like the many facets on a gem, life has shown many sides to us   I wouldn’t want it any other way.  Oh I recall some very good times, and some not-so-good.  But to look back on a life that might have been only one flavor seems boring, tasteless, and not so precious.

I could totally skip the buttered popcorn, though.

just Laurel