Happy Anniversary to Us

March 1, 2019

The two of us, 49 years ago.

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary. It's been 49 years since we nervously said, "I do!" It was a dark and stormy night, and a number of our guests were simply unable to make it to the church through the rain and the wind. The next morning was all beautiful sunshine, and you'd never have known about the previous evening's tempest. It's crazy how quickly all those years have gone by. What an adventure it has been for a couple of kids who had no idea what they were getting into but stuck it out anyhow through the good times and the bad times of life, the happy times and sad times. The healthy times and the not-so-healthy times. The sunshine and the storms.

Everyone at the facility and online wished us a happy anniversary. And it was. We listened to music and ate the cheesecake I had brought to share. We sat close together and held hands. I talked to him and smiled at him and gave him a kiss or two. Or three. He looked at me with puppy dog eyes of possible recognition once or twice. I tried to get a good picture of the two of us, but I haven't looked at them yet. For some reason, that's hard to do today.

Later, I met a couple of friends for Thursday Tacos. This has been my support group for years now, almost every Thursday night. We don't usually have tacos. But the name stuck, so we use it. They are ladies who understand love and loss and grief and survival. Sometimes there are more of us and sometimes fewer, but the comfort of knowing we are there for each other is extremely important to all of us. Life is a community thing, an outward thing. It isn't meant to be lived in solitude, inward. Not for me, anyway.

If you are a caregiver, I hope you have found a group for support. It doesn't have to be a big group, and they don't have to already be your friends. But they will become your friends as you share your journey together. It's a tie that binds hearts together. That's how it works.

Happy anniversary to us, my darling. You are still my prince, my favorite, my one true love, the only man for me. I love you to distraction and back.