The Bottle Tree

They knew it was love: She had a bottle tree and he loved to drink.

That’s just how they rolled. And they had rolled like that since that moonlit night 20 years ago.

They met at the FloraBama bar along the Alabama/Florida Gulf Coast hours after their college graduation.  He had a great smile. She, well, had a great everything else.  They danced slowly to a Buffett song. They gazed into each others’ eyes.  And they held hands as they walked along the warm June surf.

It wasn’t love at first sight, but it sure was lust.  You see, their passion was like a sparkler — burning hot, throwing sparks and quick to flare out. They married that weekend.  And the passion was gone by Tuesday. But they still made each other laugh.

And that ability to laugh pulled them through so many crises.

Her cancer. His job loss. Their bankruptcy. A pregnancy gone wrong.  A lost child. Whatever pitch life could knock them down with, they’d get back up laughing.  It was a relationship built on the strongest foundation known to man. She began where he ended. He began where she ended. A perfect circle. Like the rings on their fingers. A ring of laughter.

The gossipy ladies in the local Bunko club loved to try to judge them.  So did the local garden club members. They’d never win the yard of the month, that’s for sure.  The ladies at the local Baptist church prayed for them.  Their neighbors called them eccentric. The couple nodded and smiled at all of them. And then laughed even harder.

He loved how her blue eyes crinkled when she chuckled.  She still loved his smile.

They walked together. They ate together. They told bad jokes together. But most importantly, they laughed together. Day in. And day out.

Laughter was the glue that held them together.  It was the bond that made them so strong. They made their annual toast to it — To that night at the FloraBama. And they drained another bottle. To their life together. To the good, the bad and the laughter. To the 20th bottle on their bottle tree. Their bottle tree of life.

They looked at the tacky tree and laughed some more. That’s just how they rolled.