The Shoebox

[K]

THE SHOEBOX

A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years.
They had shared everything. They had talked about everything.
They had kept no secrets from each other except that the
little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she
had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about.

For all of these years, he had never thought about the
box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor
said She would not recover.

In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took
down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside.
She agreed that it was time that he should know what was
in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls
and a stack of money totaling $95,000.

He asked her about the contents.

'When we were to be married,' she said, ' my grandmother
told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She
told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and
crochet a doll.'

The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back
tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry
with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost
burst with happiness.

'Honey,' he said, 'that explains the doll, but what about
all of this money? Where did it come from?'

'Oh,' she said, 'that's the money I made from selling the
dolls.'