When Jimmy Carter was President
of USA, he once had some misunderstanding with his wife. Punctuality was almost
an obsession with Carter because of his naval trainings.
Rosalyan, his wife, was punctual,
though not up to his exacting standards. All too frequently, a deviation of
five minutes or even less in their departure time would lead to an exchange of
bitter words. For 38 years, it had been the most persistent cause of dissension
between them.
On 18th August 1984, Carter went
into his study early in the morning to work on a speech and tuned on the radio
for the news. When he heard what the date was, he realized it was Rosalyn's
birthday and he had not bought her a gift. Now had no time to buy the gift. All
of a sudden, he thought of doing something special without gift.
The gift was "He
hurriedly wrote a note that was long overdue, "Happy Birthday ! As proof
of my love, I will never again make an unpleasant comment about your
tardiness." He signed it, and delivered I in an envelope, with a kiss. It
is reported that till this day he has been keeping his promise and it turned
out to be one of the nicest birthday presents in their married life.