Coffee, Marriage and Wild Complexity by Betty Mason Arthurs…Part 1

What do coffee and “wild complexity” have to do with marriage? Let me explain.

One chilly morning a few years ago, while brewing coffee in our kitchen, I read some words on the back of a packet of coffee. When you’ve been married forty-plus years it’s not easy to come up with a new description for a couple of college sweethearts who are now senior folks plugging along in their white-haired years.

I had slit open a new pouch of coffee, Wild Huckleberry, a gift from friends. Inhaling the fragrance from Ketchikan, Alaska, my mouth tingled in anticipation of a new taste. Reading the back, I giggled over the description on the brilliant purple packet:

“Wild Huckleberry coffee: Bold and Complex-Our slow roasted beans are full of flavor with overtones of wild complexity. It has a taste that’s so pleasurable that it is… Slightly Sinful.”

“Oh yes,” I said. “It’s a perfect way to describe my marriage.” My brilliant deduction was enhanced by a cuppa Huckleberry Joe.

Bold and Complex

Early in our marriage Johnny became my hero on a white horse when chronic disease stole away my health and nursing career. He boldly led the charge for me and our two children through the physical and emotional battles with arthritis. “We’re in this together, Charlie,” he told me. (Charlie is his pet name for me.)

In the years to come our marriage became frightfully complex, but we discovered that God, the creator of the first couple in the Bible, specializes in helping those who struggle. I wonder if Adam, after 100 years of marriage, ever whispered in Eve’s ear, “Honey-Babe, I like the sheepskins you wear, but I can’t forget your divine designer look in Eden.” Eve’s reply, “Forget it, I have a headache.” Considering Adam lived for 930 years, they had a lot of years to forgive each other for their garden mistake and thank the Lord for his provision. But wait, they had no mother-in-laws…is that fair?

*** Part 2 is in tomorrow’s post, November 19, 2014