He Travels Fastest Who Travels Alone

I wanted to steal a day's march on Valentine's Day. Yeah, I know, patience was never my strong suit or even sport coat. Ich habe kein ruhe im arsch. And have been like this my whole life and I think it's a little late to change now.

I often wonder, in light of my journey so far, if he who does travels so fast runs the risk of missing the entire point of the sojourn if/when he has no one with whom to share it. 
As someone who was very much, and for a very long time, singularly unlovable, Valentine's Day is a day of major import and a minor miracle, all at the same time.

I look at photos of my wife, Sigrid, and I, back when we were fab and she was, as she still is, absolutely beautiful to me. It took zero intelligence for me to fall in love with her at first sight and something far rarer than intelligence to help us stay in love all these years on. I do find myself looking at her, then and now, and wondering if she still sees me as I was or as I am now and if the latter, why does she stay?

We have, she and I, grown old together which causes me to smile as I had nothing nearly so grand in mind when I first saw her. And there are those who knew me back before that day who would be amazed that she kept me nailed to one place long enough for all those years to have become all these years, and to some degree, I share their amazement. 

We share a life that isn't and will never be the one I thought I wanted when I believed things worked out the way we desired (if we only wanted something bad enough), but when I reach the end of every day, I look at her and at our two adult children, Patrick and Michelle, and know that I love, and am loved by, them and I cannot complain about some settling of the contents during shipment. So, even if it's a  little bit in advance, trust me when I tell you I wish you a Happy Valentine's Day.
-bill kenny