Can This Marriage Be Saved?

When I first met my husband he drove a motorcycle and I was a motorcycle freak, hopping on one at every opportunity even if I barely knew the driver. (It's a miracle I'm still alive.) He was the Editor-in-Chief of an architecture magazine for which I was the Art Director, which made him my boss. And he was a muscular body-builder with obvious pecs and abs and all the rest. We were both native New Yorkers who loved the city. We also both loved playing Scrabble. And we were both Jewish, meaning funny, smart and into Seinfeld.

That was all 40 years ago, and things have changed. Most notably, we got married. Then we had a baby, resulting in no more motorcycle. (After our son was born I refused to get on one, since finally I had a reason  to live.) No more architecture magazine -- in fact we are both retired and now I'm his boss. As for the pecs and the abs, I know they are in there somewhere but I have not seen them in years, if you follow me.

In many ways, we have grown apart. I refuse to go to New York City for fear of being set on fire or stabbed in the neck or pushed in front of a subway by an angry Palestinian. Mitch still loves New York and wishes I'd accompany him there. Or anywhere, since he lives to travel and I hate flying -- and packing and unpacking and visiting ruins.

Mitch is now heavy into his Jewish roots, even taking a weekly class on the wisdom of the Torah taught by an ultra-Orthodox rabbi. I don't do ultra-Orthodox Jews; any cult where the men dance with the men and the women dance with the women at weddings is too weird for me. Throw in the curly-haired sideburns and the little boxes they tie on themselves and count me out. Anyway, I don't take that class. And lately he's been playing bridge once a week with a group of senior citizens, about which I can say nothing that is not snarky so I'll leave it at that.

Mitch loves politics and thus participates in our local Freeport government, attending many meetings about traffic lights and building setbacks and how tall new construction should be. I do not care about any of that, and in fact avoid going into Freeport at all costs except for sushi.

What I am into is painting. That's it. So I guess you could say I am the most boring one of us. Still, that's the way it is. Notice I did not say "It is what it is." I would never say that. But Mitch says it often and it drives me nuts.

Our one common interest, besides sushi, is our son, for whom we each have undying devotion and adoration. He is now 38 years old and becomes more interesting every day.

So, waddya think--- do we have a chance?