Happy Anniversary, Honey

October is a very busy month for us. It is jam-packed with a big assortment of celebrations-- birthdays and anniversaries and visits to restaurants and special gifts and dinners and such. Ordinarily it's a happy, busy month, but now it's changed--now it's challenging. It takes an extra effort to celebrate when your emotional tank is full of grief. It feels dissonant, like playing polka music at a funeral. But we are pushing ourselves to do it anyway, because it's important to acknowledge not just what we've lost, but also what we have at this present moment. Today, on our 36th wedding anniversary, I want to count some of our blessings.

What we have at this moment, besides broken hearts and a beautiful, much-loved and deeply missed son in Heaven:

1. Two beautiful, precious daughters, whose presence and existence bring us comfort every single day

2. Their admirable and courageous husbands, who are our sons, too, and have opened their hearts to our family and served us all so faithfully

3. Five uniquely delightful grandchildren, who hug us and entertain us and compel us to laugh

4. A beautiful, compassionate daughter-in-love whose love is a precious gift

5. An enduring friendship that began as childhood sweethearts, and is now an unbreakable bond

6. The shelter and strength of our home and a shared outlook on all the important things in life

7. Beyond that: faith, friends, health, security, our needs met and enough to share with others

I am so glad that I have had you beside me these 36 years. I am proud of the life we've built together and the things that are important to us. I am thankful we can cry together, and rebuild together. You, more than any other human being, know my heart and welcome me into yours.

I love you, dear Joe. I do.

For 36 years and more.

Gen 2:28 And the two shall become one