Cheers to 37 Years!

Celebrate/Celebration is my word for 2024 (same word in 2022, too). Every day, there could be something to celebrate, but today is extra special for me and hubby Bill - it's our wedding anniversary!

As we know, marriages break up over 50% of the time, perhaps even higher in some places. For some reason(s), ours has lasted since we said our “I do’s” 37 years ago on a beautiful Cleveland, Ohio, day.

Is it because we believe in a team or the team approach?

Is it because we live and breathe the same values even though our personalities are different (Bill is an introvert, and yours truly is a card-carrying extrovert)?

Is it because we are runners and former marathoners who know how to go the distance?

Is it because we have surrounded ourselves with a loving family, wonderful friends, and a comfortable home to share?

Is it because, even through the most tumultuous times (Ryan’s long cancer journey), we’ve checked in with each other, and when we couldn’t, we found others to fill that chasm?

Is it because we cheer each other on in any endeavor we decide to do (on our jobs/school - MBA/quilting/extracurricular activities outside the home)?

Is it, like a fine wine, cultivated and nurtured with the utmost care and has the great potential to age?

Is it because, as we age, we have stimulating conversations on many topics, many of which we discuss on our almost daily walks?

Is it because when we joined Writing in Community on June 9, 2020, it rocked our world (the Covid cure for us was all that writing during those wild lockdown days, and oddly, we never felt more free, and for me to write and publish The Focus Fight and Bill to write and privately publish three books? We both changed more than we could ever imagined from that first post. Our daily writing, with our thoughts attached to those words on the page, catapulted us to a place we could never have envisioned over four years ago—from the people we met to accomplishing our writing goals, we strive to get better with each passage written. It's that morphing and changing and leaning on each other to be the best version of ourselves no matter what we are doing. That is saying something.

And lastly, is it because we love and care deeply about each other, respect boundaries, and love our children and our grandchild more than anything in the world?

Frankly, it’s all the above!

I wouldn’t want to be on this liferide with anyone else! Together, we push each other to be the best versions of ourselves, and in turn, make us stronger as a couple to weather the inevitable storms (clue to push out the dark clouds: Manufacturing Sunshine!), to laugh, to cry, to be kind and grateful, and, last but not least, to love - the greatest gift of all.

I am one lucky gal! And, oh yes, he’s also the best pickleball partner a girl could ask for!

Happy Anniversary, Bill! Cheers to US!

Terri

Photos: 1) Wedding day 6/13/1987; 2) this morning's anniversary breakfast (instead of dinner since we are playing pickleball for the rest of the evening, and 3) photo heart by Unsplash