10th October, 2010
Here’s to my wonderful parents, who celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this week. They mated for life, as Woody Allen would say, like pigeons or Catholics.
If all human discourse is ultimately about what constitutes the good life – if the basic question is How To Live? – then you could do worse, it seems, than to adopt the following model:
Start by getting married on 4th October, 1950, in St Mary’s Church, Ryde, Isle of Wight. Get your photograph taken outside the Ship And Castle, then roll up your sleeves for a life of toil in catering and frozen foods. Stand for office and serve your community. Create a loving and ridiculously extended family environment. Celebrate education, ambition and the nutritional and intellectual benefits of decent ice cream. Eat pasta every Sunday night. Send five kids to university for the opportunities you yourselves never had.
Bounce grandchildren on your knee. Ten or twelve – who’s counting? – will do. Delight in others, be they humble, high-class, or holy. Share generously and laugh infectiously. Take particular pleasure in language and storytelling, and be sure to examine things from every point of view. Come late, but gladly, to the world of drama, film and glamour. Suffer devastating pain, but count what you had, not what you lost.
Travel religiously together. And if that, on occasion, should not be possible, wait anxiously for your loved one to return. Be ready with tea. Insist on fine china cups, and milk first.
Be sentimental.
But go to work.
In this fashion, sail past your silver, your golden, your diamond anniversary and beyond. With that skip in the step and that glint in the eye, you’ll be the envy of, the pride of, the example to, us all.
Pingback: Tweets that mention Dominic Minghella -- Topsy.com
I came to this site because I am a fan of the few, mention-worthy writers of comedy shows. The first two series of Doc Martin were the best, and I’m not surprised you wrote for Hamish Macbeth. Like it or not, your writing style has a bit of Catholic personality to it, and that’s what I personally find so attractive. Everyone really craves in their soul that “happily ever after” in this life that makes sense of life’s struggles and hardships. Work hard, but remember that family is what matters most, second to those values which bring about and maintain strong families* (*and from whence those values come). The Doc hasn’t secured this yet, but his audience knows that’s what he wants deep inside. Doc Martin is a kind of emblem for where people endeavored to be, then ended up, and now are trying to break past.
Your parents sound as if they were some of the most lovely people. Thank you for sharing!
All the best to you and yours!
AJPM,
A Fan from the US
(By the way, I meant to mention, the first two series were the best of Doc Martin! The others I had to skip various episodes. Sorry.)
Thank you very much indeed. Yes, the Doc’s inner yearning is what interested me most in writing that show. And yes, my parents are the loveliest – really remarkable people. What luck, eh? All best to you.
I had no involvement beyond series 2, so no apology necessary. However, audiences in the UK are as strong as ever, so I figure the team must be getting it right. Sustaining a series beyond 5/6 years is always going to be tough, so all credit to everyone involved.
This is exactly what I needed to read today Dom.
Count what you had. Not what you lost.
Beautiful.