Happy Anniversary To Us

Greetings friends,

Today is my 20th wedding anniversary. Have I ever told you our story? It is not unlike others and yet somewhat different/special. It is a story of love found, lost and found again. I fell for my beloved when I was but the tender age of 12. I spied him from behind a bush, the guy next door. I loved his crazy curly hair and Elvis sideburns. And his eyes, I could melt in those blue eyes. I, the little girl next door was noticed, although I didn't really know it then. I had my jr. high friends and he his sr. high friends. He was forever the gentleman. Always sweet, always kind, always mindful of my age. I was a tease, a flirt. So bad, now that I think of it. What he tolerated, poor boy. But even so I blushed as he chased me around the dinning room table for that lucky midnight kiss for the new year of '74. He taught me how to swim and how to skate backwards. He took me on my first car date and to his Senior prom. The only prom I would get. He was my idea of the night in shining armor. I decided I'd grow up and marry him someday.

But, as does sometimes happen life got in the way. He went off to college, left me behind to finish growing up. And then my parents separated. I was taken away from family, from home, from him by a cad of a father. Life was not as it should have been. It was not ideal, it was harsh and cruel. I cried often wondering if he ever thought of me as I did of him. Over time we get on with our lives, especially at such a tender age. I learned to be a survivor. He finished college, followed his favorite bands overseas, became a sailmaker then returned home. I too returned 13 years and two children later. You don't forget old friends, especially the adults that were a good influence on you. I visited his mother often. She had cancer, had surgery, was doing fine. We'd visit over coffee now and then; in the same kitchen I remembered so well. Then one day, she tells me not to leave, he'll be home soon. He'll be home soon? For months I had been visiting and thought he was still back East. He was there all along, he'd come home to his ill mother. Was here in town all along. He did not look anything like I had remembered. I didn't recognize him at all when he came through the door. I admit it. We spoke, I felt it was awkward. Then his dog dies and he stops ion on a cold wintry night to tell me he;d held his dutchess in his arms and she's dies. I didn't even have a hot drink to offer him. He settled for a warm hug. Long story short we seen each other again, and again, and again, until one day I realized I had fallen in love with him all over again. The new him, the now him, not just the memory. He knows me, he knows my story and he loves me and it's all good. I would not give these past 20 years back for anything. They have not been all fun and games but then life is not that way. But we have traveled these 20 years together side by side. He is my friend, he gives me unconditional love. This was/is his promise to me:

A friend is one

who knows you

as you are

understands where

you've been

accepts who you've

become

and still gently

invites you to grow.

~~~

Happy Anniversary Honey, I Love You!

~~~

And to all my blog friends,

Be happy, Be healthy, Be yourself,

Tess