Alles Gute zum Geburtstag

I make my living with words. In my little more than six decades here on the Big Blue Marble I have used my allotted share and probably most of yours already. So on that rare occurrence when I have had the good fortune to pretty well nail what I wanted to say about a given occasion, I've decided there's no value but only vanity in rebuilding some revisited sentiments that were and, remain, as good as it's gonna get. What follows isn't "new" but "true."

Tomorrow, despite my decades-long wheedling, cajoling and campaigning, will NOT be a national holiday, though I'm hoping we do celebrate it pretty large at my house. It will be my wife's birthday. That she has spent a majority of her years on this planet in my company is a testimonial to her patience and deep love rather than a refection or implication of any skill or ability on my part.

I won't go through the how we met on Christmas Day evening story again (except for that right there), or how as I was proposing she at first thought I was suggesting we go our separate ways (even then I had a gift for speaking in tongues other than my own) and there are few around who know just how awkward and expensive the question "where do I sign?" actually can be as well as I and my best man, Chris, the day she and I wed.

Suffice it to say, the first time I saw her I knew I would marry her and from that day to this, I have enjoyed the life she has created for us and our children because she was the one so doing. When we met I didn't eat chicken and I hated rice (private joke) among other foods I now enjoy on a regular basis. My life is proof positive that anyone, no matter how crippled inside, can be transformed through love.

Little did she knew when she said 'yes' that when you buy a ticket, you get the whole ride, but she's been around for all of it, and, from my perspective, has been the best part of it for me every day, sometimes the only part worth anything. I cannot imagine anyone more perfect with whom to spend my life and cannot help but marvel at how smart(er) I was back in the day to so rapidly realize how truly marvelous she is and to always hold her  in my arms and in my heart.

"It must be something only you can see, because I feel it when you look at me. So tonight I'll ask the stars above how did I ever win your love? What did I do, what did I say to turn your angel eyes my way?"
-bill kenny