12/8/73 - ∞

It was on this day in 1973 that Peggy and I said our vows and got married, making this our 49th anniversary on our way to forever together, as Paul Harvey used to say.

Not THIS Andy Taylor!

We got married because, as Andy Taylor said so often, when you marry someone, the polite thing is for them to marry you back. 

This one!

I have to say, we didn't know the first thing about being married, except for the one thing that has never changed about us. We are still in love like a couple of schoolkids passing notes in Geometry, and that has never faded a bit. 

I've heard it said that there is a lid for every pot. Well, I got lucky and found mine, and I can't speak for Peggy, but the fact that she was here for breakfast this morning would seem to indicate that she's happy and sticking around. I could give you verse and chapter about why I love her, but suffice it so say I really do, for all the reasons anyone could think up.

We have had a lot of adventures, a lot of stories, a lot of laughs (you wouldn't believe how many!) and more than our share of good luck. Sure, there were sad times, like in any life. Loss, death, sickness, the whole wagonload of what-have-you. But every bad day has been leavened by a hundred good ones, and I can't really complain about a thing.

Next year when we celebrate 50 years, don't look for a trip to France or a new car or a huge party to mark the occasion. When you've been this happy every day, you don't need a lavish wing-ding or boat trip across an ocean to put an exclamation point on one certain day.

I am the luckiest man alive, and I celebrate that luck every time I look into Peggy's root-beer-colored eyes. Thank you God, for all this happiness.