still holdin' on

To the love of my life.

This Friday will mark our 10th anniversary. While that may not seem much to those silver and golden anniversary folks, in today's terms......we've made it.

I had given up on finding love in river city.......and she was biding time until she could move away. And then, oddly enough, we found each other. A pathetic double-date I set her up with a friend, while I was out with her friend-ended rather nicely when the two of us got together.

And then just a few weeks after our first date-I was a wreck in love. And a few weeks after that, we were engaged and five months later-married. And this was our song, the summer of '98.

We love each other more each day-with each passing month and year, weathering every storm that has come our way.....laughing with and sometimes at our kids.........we continue to grow together, not apart like too often happens as couples in love......somehow fall out of love.

There may have been a time or two when it would have been easier to walk away. I think because both our parents have stayed together almost 45 and 50 years, we've learned that it takes love, fun, faithfulness and Christ in the center of our lives to be able to ride out the storms. Our first commitment to each other, before our commitment in front of an altar, was to live simple lives. And I believe this is why we can say we are so blessed.

Why she puts up with me........I'll never know. I'm not the same guy she married, that's for sure. She finds my interests and chatter endearing and never tires of my stupid humor or random, unscheduled stops at cool places. And she still finds me irresistible at 40. Whew.

She holds my heart in her hands. Her breath is my life.