By Eddwin Cooney
As I’ve often observed in these writings, since a regular year contains only 365 days with which to mark the births of some seven billion human beings, each day of the year is significant to someone. Aside from your birthday and those of the people you cherish as well as perhaps your wedding anniversary or a favorite holiday, I’m sure there are some specific dates that mark meaningful occurrences in your own life. November 9th is such a day for me.
It was on Tuesday night, November 9th, 1971 that I met and began dating a very special lady. Her name was Marsha Marie and our closeness lasted from that night until November 12th, 1972. I’ve been privileged to be close to a few ladies in my adulthood, but Marsha was special. Petite, soft-spoken, and keenly intelligent, Marsha possessed a rather mischievous sense of humor. Thoughtful of others, Marsha was sweetly accommodating to those she loved. Our closeness was playful and sweet but all too short, and I miss her still.
Thirty-five years have passed since I last saw Marsha and it was a difficult parting. She had ended our relationship a year and three days after it began and I missed her immediately. We began seeing one another again, ever so cautiously, in the spring of 1974 and I had hopes we might resume our former togetherness. Alas, however, it was not to be.
I raise this whole matter because every November 9th that passes I’m reminded once again of the value and potential of opportunity. In my heart, November 9th will always be my “Opportunity Day.” It isn’t that I haven’t had rewarding relationships with others since that “sweet season” of some thirty-eight years ago. It’s just that I’ve learned how painful missed opportunity can be. That sweet time is so long ago and yet so vivid.
I was a junior/senior in college during that sweet 369-day season. During that time: Richard Nixon was the president. He visited China during a very intensely close and personal week of our relationship; the first baseball player’s strike occurred in April 1972; J. Edgar Hoover died; George Corley Wallace was shot and subsequently paralyzed while campaigning for president; President Nixon and Soviet Premier Brezhnev signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty in Moscow that May; Elvis Presley performed in Buffalo, New York in April and at Madison Square Garden that June; and then there was the Watergate break-in which took place on June 17, 1972.
The late Speaker of the House of Representatives, Thomas (Tip) O’Neill (D-Mass) has often been credited with the observation: “All politics is local.”
In that spirit, I respectfully offer my own observation: “Everyday is personal.”
As surely as personal deeds direct our fortune, the days that engrave them forever into our awareness are the lodestars to our ultimate wisdom. Every time I hear a talk show host pontificate, hear a sermon from the pulpit, read an opinion piece or write a column, I’m reminded that little of what we think, say, or do is truly objective. We have our hearts in most of what we do and, if we don’t, we ought to.
Across the veil of years, I like to believe that what Marsha Marie and I shared could have blossomed into a deeper and more lasting relationship. Whether or not that’s true, I know that I, personally, could have done more than I did to nurture what we shared.
Certainly there are a number of other days that are important to me. Some of them I may include in future writings. November 9th, however, my personal “Opportunity Day,” is, for me, especially special.
Thus, in fond remembrance of my time with Marsha Marie, I offer November 9th as Opportunity Day. Ah, but perhaps it is the memory of a different day which triggers the energy and love you possess to fuel the realization of dreams yet unrealized.
If such a day comes to mind, grab it and make it your Opportunity Day. By so doing, you’ll have definitely enhanced mine.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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