A woman awakens in the middle of the night to find her husband is not in bed. She puts on her robe and goes downstairs to look for him. She finds him sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of hot cocoa in front of him. He appears to be in deep thought, just staring at the wall. She watches as he wipes away a tear from his eye.



“What’s the matter, dear? Why are you down here at this time of night!?” she whispers as she steps into the room.

The husband looks up from his drink, “It’s the 20th anniversary of the day we met.”

She can’t believe he has remembered and starts to tear up.

The husband continues, “Do you remember 20 years ago when we started dating? I was 20 and you were only 18,” he said.

Once again, the wife is touched to tears thinking that her husband is so caring and sensitive. “Yes, I do” she replies.


The husband pauses. The words coming out in a rush. “Do you remember when your father caught us in the back seat of my car?”

“Yes, I remember” said the wife, lowering herself into a chair beside him. The husband continued. “Do you remember when he shoved the shotgun in my face and said, either you marry my daughter or I will make sure you spend the next 20 years in prison?”

“I remember that, too” she replied softly.

He sighed as he wiped another tear away from his cheek and said, “I would have gotten out today.”