By Jim Hagarty
Dearly Beloved …
It is not a rule that longtime married couples have to eventually look exactly like each other and yet, in so many cases, that is what they do. Even physical features and mannerisms seem to begin blending after awhile.
One day this winter I saw an extreme case. A slim, 50s-something, man and woman walking briskly along the sidewalk on their way to a parking lot. To begin with, they were exactly the same height and build. They wore identical long red winter coats. I don’t know if they were both wearing women’s coats or both men’s, but they were the same coats.
Same big BLACK fluffy mitts. Each wore BLACK pants. She wore high-top BLACK boots and while his were more low-cut, they were BLACK, of course. She wore BLACK ear muffs and his ear protection, while somewhat different, was BLACK, what else. The only distinguishing characteristic I could see was his brown cap.
They walked with precisely the same gait and at the same speed. A visiting Martian, getting a quick glimpse of these two and leaving Earth quickly without seeing any other people would report to headquarters that all humans look exactly the same. In this couple’s case, the little alien would not be wrong.
I just hope that, happily married or not, man and wife have managed to hang on to some of their individuality.
Otherwise, it would seem a little freaky to wake up one day and realize you were married to yourself.
