Chapter 20 10th Marriage Tuesday

I brought a visitor to Murray, my wife. My first visit and he was asking.When can I see Jie Ning?When are you bringing her here?I had reason to put it off until I called him a few days ago to see how he was doing. It took Murray a while to get to the phone, and I heard a groping noise on the other end, someone holding the receiver for him.He didn't even have the strength to hold the receiver. He said weakly: Hi. Coach, are you okay? I heard his rough breathing.Mitch, your coach wasn't having a great day. He was sleeping worse and worse, needed an oxygen mask almost every night, and coughed terribly.Sometimes he coughs for an hour, and he doesn't know if he can stop.He always said he was done when it got to his lungs, and now I shudder to think that death is so close.

I said, I'll see you on Tuesday and you'll be much better then. mickey. What's up? Is your wife with you? She just sat and listened to me. Let her answer the phone, I want to hear her voice. My wife is much more kind and affectionate by nature than I am.She had never met Murray, but without saying a word, she picked up the phone (if I had, I would have shaken my head and whispered: I'm not here! I'm not here!), and within a minute she was chatting with my old professor, It was as if she had known him since college.I can feel it though I just hear her say uh huh mickey tell me oh thank you

After she hung up the phone, she said: Next time I will go with you. That's it. Now we are sitting in his study, on both sides of his recliner.Murray is a self-professed old coquette, although he coughs and interrupts the conversation from time to time, or needs to use the urinal, but the arrival of Jie Ning seems to make him look more energetic than before.Jie Ning brought us a wedding photo, and he looked at it with great interest. You grew up in Detroit? Jie Ning said, yes. I taught for a year in Detroit, in the late forties.I still remember an interesting incident at that time.

He stopped to blow his nose, I saw that his hands were trembling and weak, so I reached out to help him hold the toilet paper, and he blew his nose weakly.I gently pressed his nostrils with toilet paper and twisted it before taking it away, like a mother blowing a child's nose. Mitch, thank you.He looked at Jenny.This is my good helper. Jenny smiled slightly. Closer to home, we were a group of sociology students at the university, and we would play poker with other faculty members from time to time, including a surgeon.After playing cards one night, he said: Murray, I want to see how you work.I said yes, so he came to my class to see how I teach.

After class he said: Very good, now do you want to see how I work?I'm going to have an operation tonight.I wanted to reciprocate, so I agreed. He took me to the hospital and said: wash your hands, put on a mask, put on a surgical gown.The next thing I remember is standing next to him, a woman on the operating table, naked from the belly down.He picked up the scalpel, without saying a word, just cut it off!And me Murray raised his hand slightly, stretched out a finger and twirled. I started like this, I couldn't stand up, I was about to pass out.A lot of blood, evil.The nurse next to me asked: Doctor, what's wrong with you?I said: I am not some ghost doctor!let me out!

We laughed, and Murray laughed too, as much as his weak breath allowed.It was the first time in weeks that I heard him tell such a story.I thought to myself, how strange, before he almost fainted when he saw other people's suffering, but now he is so sick himself, but he can bear it. Connie knocked on the door and said Murray's lunch was ready.I bought turnip soup, vegetable cakes, and Greek pasta in the morning. I tried to bring the softest and easiest things to eat, but they were still hard for Murray to chew.He can only eat liquid food for the most part now, and at most, a softly soaked wheat bran muffin can be swallowed with almost no chewing.Charlotte would now make a soup of what Murray ate, and let him drink it through a straw.I still bring food home every week and dangle the bag of groceries in front of him, but mostly just to please him.When I open the refrigerator, there are always too many things to fit.I guess I'm secretly hoping that one day he'll be back to eating normally with me, and I'll see him eating and talking sloppily, with food crumbs all over his mouth.It's a silly wish.

Murray said: So Jie Ning. She has a smile on her face. You are such a sweetheart.let me hold your hand. She reaches out. Mickey told you that you are a singer. Jie Ning said, yes. He also said you are great. Oh, she said with a smile, no, he was just kidding. Murray raised his eyebrows.can you sing a song for me It's been asked by just about everyone since I've known her.When people find out you're a professional singer, they always say: sing us a song.Jie Ning has never liked to perform in front of others, and is a perfectionist, so she always politely declines other people's requests.I thought she would refuse this time too, but who would have thought that she would start singing:

∮ thinking of you I forget myself forget the usual appearance This is Ray.Ray Noble's song is a standard song from the 1930s. Jenny sang it sweetly, rolling her eyes at Murray.Murray surprised me again, how he could always let others open up his deepest feelings for him.Murray closed his eyes, immersed in the singing.My wife's beautiful voice echoed in the room, and a happy smile appeared on his face.Although his body is as stiff as a sandbag, you can almost see him dancing in his heart. ∮ Every flower has your face there are your eyes in the sky just think of you thinking of you

my love When she finished, Murray opened his eyes, tears streaming down his cheeks.I have listened to my wife sing for so many years, and never once has he listened so wholeheartedly. Marriage, almost everyone I know, has marital problems.Someone's problem is marriage, someone's problem is divorce.People of my generation seem to wrestle with it, like a crocodile out of some muddy swamp.I'm used to going to weddings, congratulating the couple, and I wasn't too surprised to run into the groom a few years later in a restaurant with another young woman who he said was only a friend.He will explain in a low voice: You know, I'm separated from so-and-so

I asked Murray: Why do we have these problems?I waited seven years to propose to Jie Ning. I wonder if people of my age are more cautious than the previous generation, or are they just more selfish? I feel sorry for your generation.Murray said: In this cultural environment, you are full of hope to find a loved one, because the most lacking thing in the whole environment is love.But today's children are pitiful. They are either too selfish to be truly loved and loved, or they get married excitedly and divorce after six months.They don't know what they want from each other.They don't know who they are so how do they know who they are marrying?

He sighed.Murray has been teaching for so many years, and I don't know how many married couples have given marriage counseling.It's sad because finding the one you love is crucial.You learn this, especially when things are not going well for you, like me.Friends are great, but at night when you are coughing and can't sleep, they won't be there for you, they won't accompany you through the night, comfort you, and take care of you. Charlotte and Murray had known each other when they were students, and had been married for forty-four years.I saw how they got along, she sometimes reminded him to take medicine, sometimes she came into the room to brush the back of his neck, or talked about the two sons.The couple went in and out together, and often just looked at each other to know what the other was thinking.Charlotte is a shy person by nature, unlike Murray, but I know he respects her opinion, because sometimes we talk and he'll say: Charlotte might not like me saying this, and shut up No words.This was the only time Murray had nothing to say. What I've learned from marriage, Murray said again: You will be tested.You discover who you are, who the other person is, and how you get along, or you don't get along. Is there any law that can tell you whether two people are suitable for marriage? Murray smiled.Mitch, it's not that simple. I know. Still, he said: "I know there are a few immutable laws in love and marriage: If you don't respect the other person, you're in big trouble.If you don't know how to compromise, you're in big trouble.If you are not open and honest with each other, you will be in a lot of trouble.And if your lives don't have considerable mutual value, you're in big trouble.You must have similar values. Mitch, do you know what values ​​are most important? What? Believe in the importance of marriage. He took a breath and closed his eyes for a moment. Personally, he exhales, eyes still closed: I think marriage is a big deal, and it's a big loss if you don't try it. He ended the topic by quoting his favorite poem: Not loving each other is like dying.He recited this line as if praying. ◇◇◇ I said to Murray, well, there is a question.His thin fingers held the glasses across his chest, and his chest rose and fell with his heavy breathing. what is the problem? Remember <The Book of Job>? The Book of Job in the Bible? right.Job was a good man, but God put him through a lot of suffering to test his faith. I remember. Take everything from Job, his house, his wealth, his family his health. make him sick. Test his faith. Yes, testing his faith.So, I'm thinking what's on your mind? What are your thoughts on this? Murray coughed violently, and his hands hung limply by his sides, trembling with each cough. I think, he said with a smile: God went too far.