Here’s a happy reminder that the sky isn’t falling

STEVE SMITH

Joe Bell and a few others may have been right about the importance of

this election. I am 49 years old and have voted in eight presidential

elections and although I seem to recall the same thing being said

about other presidential contests, this one really may have been the

most important in my lifetime.

This election will be important not only for all of the issues

raised so far -- and for all the ones barely raised at all -- but

also because it will test whether we are to go on as we have been,

ignoring our declining resources, isolating ourselves more and more

from the rest of the world and allowing poor children in the world’s

richest nation to continue to go to bed hungry.

There were people in the 1960s and ‘70s who faced the same sort of

questions about whether to go on as we had been. Many of them chose

not to bring children into a world they believed was a horrible

place.

I’m very happy to report that despite the reports that the sky is

indeed falling, some of us have the courage to continue on -- maybe

not as we have been, but they are continuing nonetheless.

Kellie Hines and Patrick Pendergest met a couple of years ago

while both were working in Mammoth. Kellie was working in the

publicity department for the mountain and Patrick was working a

couple of jobs, the way a lot of young people in Mammoth do.

They dated, but after a while, Kellie realized that a life in

Mammoth meant a limited career path. She liked to ski, but there’s a

limit to that, too.

Kellie always did have a good head on her shoulders. So she left,

heading back to Orange County to find meaningful employment.

Patrick, knowing that he had met the love of his life, followed.

Before long, he was doing the honorable thing and went to Kellie’s

dad, Lewis, to ask for his daughter’s hand.

Today at 4 p.m., just up the street from where Cay and I exchanged

vows in San Juan Capistrano more than 17 years ago, Kellie and

Patrick will marry.

Upon their return from a honeymoon in Belize, Kellie and Patrick

will move into a home that Kellie bought in Orange County earlier

this year (I told you she was smart). They will continue to work

their careers and make a home for themselves. I don’t know whether

they have kids planned, but no one will be surprised if they

eventually do.

Kellie and Patrick have a lot of good reasons for getting married,

but the most important one is at once the simplest and the most

complex: They are in love.

See them together and you understand why no one can describe the

feeling and why no one can describe what love makes you do or how it

changes people. Of all the good things love does, one of the best is

that it helps people commit to someone else forever, helping us

realize, finally, that we are not the center of the universe after

all.

I’m tempted to follow a theme common in this space and offer

Kellie and Patrick some unsolicited advice, this time about marriage

and how to make it work. In fact, I think I will:

* An occasional comment in our house is: “If mom is happy, I’m

happy.” Patrick, you don’t need to have kids in the house to figure

that one out.

* Learn to love ironing. Learn to love to iron on a Sunday in

front of the TV watching football.

* Just because she wants to play bunco once a month, or he wants

to play poker once a month, doesn’t mean you are no longer loved or

cherished. This is particularly true with poker.

* Once in a while, drink champagne in bed on a Sunday morning.

Just don’t spill any on the nice sheets you got as a wedding gift.

* Do lots of traveling before you have kids. After you have kids,

travel even more. Without the kids. (Just kidding!)

* Most important, remember that you are committed to each other

for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health. But just in

case, exercise, watch what you eat and make a lot of money.

Kellie, your Auntie Cay and I love you very much, and we are so

very happy that you and Patrick found each other. Thank you, Mr. and

Mrs. Pendergest for reminding the rest of us that some people still

look up and see not a sky that is falling but one filled with

rainbows.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(714) 966-4664.