CP 232 Teyve and Golda... their closing duet

CP 232 Teyve and Golda… their closing duet.

Thinking about marriage 4.

Hello friends… back on line with marriage snippets. Today’s contribution I found in a book called ‘Timely Homilies’, by Father William Bausch. It’s a series of sermons for all occasions. In a wedding message he quotes, in full, the final dialogue, between Teyve and Golda, from Fiddler on the Roof. It spoke to me because it addresses that deep inner insecurity that many of us can hardly acknowledge. There’s a strange comfort in there somewhere. Good to chew on. Here it is:

Golda, do you love me?

Do I what?

Do you love me?

Do I love you? With our daughters getting married and this trouble in the town, you’re upset. You’re worn out. Go inside. Go lie down. Maybe it’s indigestion.

Golda, I’m asking you a question. Do you love me?

You’re a fool.

I know, but do you love me?

Do I love you? Twenty-five years I’ve washed your clothes, cooked your meals, cleaned your house, given you children, milked the cows. After twenty-five years, why talk about love right now?

Golda, the first time I met you was on our wedding day. I was scared.

I was shy.

I was nervous.

So was I.

But my father and mother said we’d learn to love each other. So I’m now asking, Golda, do you love me?

I’m your wife.

I know, but do you love me?

Do I love him? For twenty-five years I’ve lived with him, fought with him, starved with him. Twenty-five years my bed is his. If that’s not love, what is?

Then you do love me?

I suppose I do.

And I suppose I love you too.

My question? What does it mean to say, “I love you”?

Be blessed! Fred