How long ago it was, 27 years ago, when we stood in the living room of the home to Rev. Lawrence Jackman in Alton, Illinois, in a short ceremony witnesses by his wife, two children and two pets.

We approached the union with apprehension after failed first marriages. Few expected this second try to last. The longest anyone had at the pool at my newspaper was two years max.

Yet here we are, 27 years later, still married, still enjoying each other’s company, still overlooking each other’s faults and still surviving the endless onslaught of challenges.

The skeptics missed the point. So did the naysayers. They neither knew nor understood what we had. We probably didntt understand it then and may not now but it remains the bond that keeps us both together.

Happy Anniversary my love.