Yes fifty years of one Quihi-Love.
Twenty-four and eighteen they meet on the Quihi dance floor.
The lighter wood was there.
The Johnny Hoffmann smile, a somewhat revealing blouse, alcohol, great music and smooth tight dancing …
Sparks ignited a bright enduring flame.
A young bull and a heifer with hormones flowing.
Or perhaps young dolphins? …
(Love in the warm Gulf waters off the amazing pristine white sands of St. George Island.)
Novel and adventure/getaways and service experiences kept the flame a burning …
Gainesville (Lake Alice), swimming the Ichetucknee, Apalachicola seafood festivals, Paynes Prairie, Devil’s Millhopper, Woody’s sandwiches, lots of canoeing on the lovely meandering rivers of north Florida, … .
The Coastal Plains Experiment Station and ABAC nursing, the birth of three bright Martins and arrivals of seven creative creatures from these.
Tent camping in “bucket of warm spit’s” state park, Unicoi, the Smokies, Oasis State Park, the majestic parks of the west, Big Bend, Santa Fe, Glacier, Yellowstone, Banff, Yellow Bear Canyon, Crazy Horse, … .
Falls along the Gorge, Mount Rainier, the Hoh, Palouse Falls.
Pike Place Market and the Russian Bakery across the way, the French Quarter (Beignets and coffee at Café du Monde), San Francisco, Montreal.
Grant Park Blues Festival.
At home in their South American world … Caminho das Índias, Caminho do Mar-Bahia, Ouro Preto, Trem do Pantanal, El Tren de la Muerte-Brasil to Bolivia, La Paz, strudel and pinhões in Gramado, churrascarias, Foz do Iguaçu
Barcelona, Portugal.
Classic Texas dance halls … Floore Country Store, Cheatam Street, Gruene Hall.
Two Tons of Steel, Raul Malo, Chris Knight, Charley Crockett, Jon Voight’s brother Chip, Randy Rogers, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale, Joe Ely, Willie, and even the Doors after Jim.
And Rio. Amazing Rio!!! Even with its sores a beautiful place of mountains and beaches, comidas deliciosas, and beautiful people!
And RIO MEDINA!!!!!!
Adventures and love. But not always peaches and cream.
They also suffered … and learned.
Tough living in Pearsall … struggling with the green bean pickers stuck in muddy fields, fall armyworm-devastated popcorn, truck drivers arriving at all hours of the night, … .
Trying to earn a living on a 140-acre dryland farm near Stockdale.
Teaching high school science and community college evening classes at the air bases while taking six+ hours of night classes all in the same semester.
They sometimes fell off “The Way” and argued bitterly. But they learned.
The flame of lighter wood was still there. Strength and strong determination, stubbornness but willingness in each to learn.
Commonality and difference developed the love.
They both had German genes, were from rural Medina County, appreciated 40s/50s country music and 60s/70s rock & roll … and big-chunk barbeque.
They both studied and taught science and ecology.
Every other Saturday one semester, she attended the community ecology lab of migratory sea turtle pioneer-researcher, Archie Carr … OR local flora ID.
On the other hand they WERE from different ends of the county—much deep sandy soil vs. limestone-based, rocky loam.
Alton Martins were utilitarian and almost puritanical. Johnny Hoffmanns worked hard equally at work AND pleasure. Schott-Hoffmanns drank beer, ate lamb barbeque, and celebrated weekends, vacations, Holidays and birthdays too.
……………………………………
(With kids of two, four, and six years of age clinging tight, she scowlingly glared at the hairs on the floor of the common bath, the rain-water stained walls and crammed-in beds of our little room to which we’d arrived via train and horse-drawn cart in Corumba. “Only the best for my beautiful bride!” “Paul Martin, not one of your sister-in-laws would put up with this!!!” … “But it’s a bargain! $2.50 per night!” … “Yeah. Some bargain.”)
………………………………………..
He always had more of a socio-ecological chip on his shoulder.
His dream was to effect change.
She dreamed too. But she better understood we gotta learn to live with what we cannot change.
So she dreams what is pragmatic … doable. He shoots for the sky in his dreams and fervently believes they are pragmatic and doable. … Pragmatic actions. Idealism. … Dreaming. Doing what is practical.
They do work and play together … and separately. There is a deep love, and they (mostly) get along.
She accepted and even learned some of his Way.
Still … she’s always herself, and she does buck this hard-headed Alton Martin.
She mostly raised the three young uns all born in the Southeast amongst many southern pines. … But HE raised them too.
………………………………………….
They’re de facto grayer now, more wrinkled, heavier, and slower … and his knees ache.
The flame of the lighter wood is long gone but plenty of embers still glow on.
And tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day! paul’s in for an unbelievable treat!!
pbm 2020
[ 7 S’s / VV->^^ ]
