When I Said I Do and in Sickness and in Health

Amy Rosenfeld-Kass

4years ago, on June 24, 2018, I said “I do” at the altar, and had a fantastic birthday wedding at our synagogue. My husband Gary is the best ever - humorous, funny, hard working and sensitive.

At the end of June and in the beginning of July, Gary was feeling unsteady on his feet and having difficulty with balance. He was in the hospital, and when finally discharged, used a cane, got physical therapy, gait training, and continued his exercises. We have seen every doctor, Gary is using a cane and when he needs to, a walker. He is slowly gaining more confidence and is starting to do things that he was not able to do when his feeling of unsteadiness started.

He was in the the emergency room for a few days. They admitted him, but he did not get a private room. I went to visit Gary in the emergency room each and every day that he was there. I helped him to advocate, and ask questions, too. (Learning how to advocate is an important skill).

Gary has helped me when I needed him to stay home with me when I had side effects from the COVID vaccines, and when, about a year ago, I cut my toenail and it bled so much that the day before we went to Boston to see the Red Sox,

play, my white sock turned into a red sock. We had to call 911 and go to the emergency room. One recent day in the beginning of June, I took something very hot out of the microwave and burned two of my fingers, and I had to go to urgent care. Again, Gary helped me through this, too.

Gary has been supportive in other ways, too. When I was working remotely due to the pandemic, he was supportive and I think that he actually liked hearing my storytimes for each of the classes I zoomed in with. He always reminds me that I would make a great reading teacher.

Gary likes to have a good time and also likes theater, movies, musicals, the horror genre, and wrestling. For our four year anniversary and my birthday at the end of June, we went to Monster Bash, outside of Pittsburgh, and then to Chicago. What better way to celebrate our anniversary, than to be scared together at Monster Mash.

I guess now that we have been married for a while. we are not considered newlyweds anymore. We have created our own tradition - on the 24th of every month, we have a little piece of chocolate cake.

I am on health insurance through Gary’s job. (He has me on the health insurance as a spouse. as Gary is full time at his job.) I work part-time now, but still do not give up hope that one day I will be a full time reading teacher or learning specialist for young children.

Recently, while on our summer vacation, Gary caught COVID. We were stuck in Whitefish, Montana in separate rooms at

the hotel. During this time, we communicated via text and talked to each other a few times a day. We are now back home in our freshly painted apartment,finishing our isolation in a few more days. This taught us the importance of flexibility. (We had to change our air ticket a lot of times. This latter experience also taught us that we are grateful and lucky to be vaccinated).

Our love for each other continues to grow, and catching COVID together has made it grow more. (While at the hotel, Gary said, “I like to share things with you, but not COVID.”)

We love each other, and I only hope that we will be married to each other for many more years to come, full of adventure, fun, travel and no more COVID.