Weekend Wonderings: Then and Now pt 2

Two weeks ago, I wrote my first Then and Now entry -- it focused a bit on what's is been like to have what we were thirty years ago intersecting with our lives today. With the mini-reunion now a reality, the theme is hitting me hard again.

During my marching years - college in particular - I tried very hard to juggle my corps life with everything else that was going on ... studies, working, family obligations, and very importantly, a long-term personal relationship. Thankfully, the guy in question was understanding and patient beyond what I had experienced with anyone else I had dated. Still, there were sacrifices made and opportunities lost because of my first priority: being on the competitive field and floor with all of you.

At a point after aging out, graduating from Douglass, starting my career, ending the relationship many of you have asked about and beginning one with the man who would be my husband one day, I found myself at a crossroads. Dan Fogelberg says it best in his song Nether Lands ... one road was simple, acceptance of life -- the other road offered sweet peace.

After two years of managing public relations for DCA in the early 1980s, I decided it was time to let corps go and give my personal relationships the full attention they deserved.

Richard is certainly aware of my corps history -- after all, we were dating on and off during my DCA days. Still, he's been sheltered from most of it for virtually our entire relationship -- so much so that if someone with a voice he doesn't recognize calls here and asks for Jo, he thinks it's a wrong number!

These past six months, I find myself trying, and for the most part succeeding, to reintegrate what I call the JoAnne and Marilyn parts of my life (sounds a bit like the movie Sybil when I put it that way!). Little by little, I'm bringing Richard and others up to speed on what is, really, one of the most important parts of my life -- my relationship with all of you.

He's unsure about joining me at the reunion, but I really hope he decides to be with us that evening. He knows me well enough that I'll spend very little time at his side while you're all there ... when the situation reverses itself, he's exactly the same way. Still, I'm confident part of him wants to share in the joy I feel that comes from doing all this Saints stuff again with you.

Hope you all get to meet Richard soon!

All for now --corpsdially yours from jo!