The Married Couple

There was once a married couple who had been together for thirty years. One day they drove down a long, dusty country road, leaving their home to take a trip into town to get groceries and supplies. 

As they passed mile after mile of agricultural land ripe with growing corn and wheat, the wife began to think of their many years together. She thought of how she and her husband had met at their high school dance. They had fallen in love and became inseparable. Several years later they were married.

 She recalled how they had held hands everywhere they went…how her heart would thud when he came home from a long day at work and how his smile made her feel like the most beautiful woman alive.  Why, even on their trips to town, she would cuddle next to his side as they drove in his old pickup truck, talking and laughing as they journeyed together, smelling the sweet scent of hay through the open window. 

 Looking down at her lap, she noted the empty space between the two of them in the truck’s front seat. Her husband drove with his strong hands on the wheel, his eyes fixed straight ahead. She began to cry.

“Why, darlin’, what’s wrong?” he asked gently.

She sniffled. “When we were first married, we couldn’t stand to be apart. We did everything together! I even cuddled up next to you while you drove. Don’t you remember?”

The husband smiled and nodded. “Yes, I remember.” 

 A spark of anger flickered through her. “Well, don’t you care that we don’t cuddle on the way to town anymore?” 

 The husband gave her a sidelong glance and replied, “Sweetheart, I’ve never moved.”