After more than forty-two years of marital bliss, you kind of get to know each other…….

You know favorite foods…….

You know if he’s going to accelerate or slow down at a yellow traffic light…..(FYI…he never slows down)……

You know he’s never going to turn his socks right-side-out.

…..you know topics that are safe to talk about…….

…..you know the ones to avoid…………………at all cost.

…..or sometimes to just launch into for a lark…..

…..just because…….and always with dramatic-flair…….

…..sometimes you launch into those “forbidden” topics just for an afternoon’s entertainment of verbal sword-play along with the opportunity to use some new vocabulary words that you’ve been meaning to take out for a walk for awhile…….

Every so often, old relationships need to occasionally have the carbon-blown-out of their valves and lifters…….much like what you would do with an old diesel engine just to keep it humming…….

Isn’t that what a well-oiled/old relationship is all about?

Cleared tappets?

…..and we all know it’s important to keep the carbon off those tappets.

Topics to avoid (or pounce on…..depending on your mood):  Politics (always);  Horses (how many & how much they cost);  The Correct Spelling of Aluminum or Diarrhea;  Mothers Day; Fence Repair vs. Watching 1968 Soccer Re-runs…(again); Church of England compared to Episcopalian;  Politics (revisited);  Cod vs. Plaice;  Horses (always a mutually/detonating favorite)…

So after 4+ decades, Paolo and I are never at a lack of things to argue about…….

We are actually quite good at it…….