He turned to look at me, “Am I married?”

(The old “knock me over with a feather” situation.)

I tried answering calmly and cheerily, “Yes, you are, to me.”

“Really?!”

I held my breath and then he said, “That’s good, that’s really good.” My heart sang.

I tapped his wedding band – he laughed. “We’ve been married 44 years, last month.” His response was, “Holy cow!”

It’s an old joke – a few years ago he said, “I couldn’t leave you if I wanted to cause I can’t get my ring off anymore.” Think he connected the ring and maybe the old joke – or maybe not.