Dear Friends, Family and Readers:
It’s been three weeks since Jon died, and one thought in particular keeps coming to mind: I’m so glad I wrote that post about him in back in 2019, the one with the breathless headline, “Lucky Me, I Married Jon Newhall.”
In 2019, I thought I was lucky to be married to Jon. And now, in 2021, I’m thinking — lucky me, I let him know I loved him while he was still alive.
He Got the Message
Jon saw the “Lucky Me” post, of course. And I’m pretty sure the message got across, in its oblique way.
I was lucky to have this man in my life for fifty years. We met in 1971, the year we both turned thirty. And now Jon has departed in 2021, the year we were both to turn eighty.
I’m republishing the “Lucky Me” post here as a public service. It’s my way of reminding you to use your words. Tell your SO you love them. Now’s your chance. You might not get another. Go for it. — BFN
Lucky Me, I Married Jon Newhall
By Barbara Falconer Newhall
I heard Jon’s footsteps clumping across the floor above me a few minutes ago. And a thought popped into my mind, uninvited. “Lucky me,” went the thought. “I’m married to that guy. How in the world did the universe arrange itself so that I’d be here and a real Jon Newhall would be there, upstairs, making dinner?”
I could tell it was Jon because of the uneven clumping gait. Jon’s right leg is shorter than the left, thanks to a pair of nasty Dobermans who attacked the right leg when Jon was a toddler. And thanks to a polio epidemic that came to California a couple of years later and attacked the same leg.
Also, it was pushing 7 p.m. and that’s when Jon leaves his office, his keyboard, and the thriller novel he’s writing, to come downstairs to start dinner.
Jon Newhall Cooks Dinner
Jon makes dinner at our house. He shops for the chicken, the artichokes and the sourdough. Also, the fingerling potatoes for me. He brings it all home and turns it into dinner.
Once upon a time, way back in 1970, I was a forlorn single woman adrift in hippie-era San Francisco. And now I’m married to Jon. That’s a fact I don’t pay much attention to these days.
I’m writing all this down, not to convince you that Jon is a good person, which he is. I ‘m writing this down for myself, so I don’t forget: Today I heard those footsteps overhead — and they made me happy.
Read Jon’s obituary at “Jonathan Newhall. My Husband of Forty-Four Years.“ Another version was published in our local weekly, The Montclarion.
How wonderful that you were able to express your appreciation for Jon while he was still with you. Great article! I bet Jon loved it!
Jon was not much for saying he loved anything I wrote. But he never, ever disapproved of or criticized anything I wrote. I think he was truly happy that I was writing and writing what felt true to me.
Barbara, such a touching story…you two had the most compatible life together…share so much. savor those memories.
fondly, Nancy
Dear Barbara, I send warm feelings from my heart to yours.
Thank you for sharing in such a beautiful way. Love, Jan
From all I know about the two of you, BOTH of you were “lucky”………I love the last couple sentences in “PRETTY WOMAN”……and in the really GOOD marriages I believe THAT is exactly what God is doing for both people!!
That sounds a lot like the Jon Newhall I knew very briefly in the early 1970s through a mutual friend in SF. He was always a nice guy.
True! Definitely a nice guy!
Jon remembers you, too!
A really beautiful post and great reminder to look at our loved ones in this way.
And hopefully they’re remembering to look at you that way. When Peter was a tiny boy I made a point of encouraging him to be affectionate; I had his future wife in mind. Hope it worked!
It did.
This is so lovely! I loved reading this. I too have a gentleman who cooks me dinner, and that simple fact makes me feel so lucky. I can’t wait to come visit you soon, and we can cook for you too!
Thank you, Lindsey. So sweet. We’d love to share a meal with you two *somewhere* on this planet.
lucky all of us who know you both
Thanks, Ginger!
Love those artichokes, John! Thank you , Barbara, for the inside scoop on meal prep😊 Keep us posted on John’s thriller! Any travels for the two of you?
Travels temporarily postponed until we get a little house remodel off the ground. Africa and South America beckon . . .
A fellow polio guy! Hope he isn’t visited by the same Post Polio Syndrome attacker that befell me!
Did you recover from the PPS? Or is that an ongoing thing? So far, Jon is staying very healthy.