It’s another Sauturday,
Only 45 years later.
I was nervous wreck,
though I tried not to show it;
and when I turned and saw you,
as you walked beside your father,
coming down the aisle to me,
I fell in love all over again,
but this time it was stronger
and more intense,
than when I first realized
and admitted to my feelings.

All the things we went through,
all the experiences we had,
from that treasured exchange
of “I do,” as we responded to the minister,
were ahead of us,
and we had no idea what they would be,
or how we would handle them.

Your first pregnancy was a definite
learning program for me,
as it must have been for you, as well.
I cannot imgine the various shades of physical hell
you must have gone through,
just to bring our first son into this world.

I will never forget when we brought him home,
laid him in the cradle your father built for him,
and we looked at each other, and asked,
“Now what do we do?”
Thankfully we had a handbook!
It had a ton of helpful hints in it!!
It cautioned against trying to wash the baby
and the baby’s clothes at the same time.
(Phew! SO glad we had that manual!)
And the frustration you had when you tried to open the bottle
to feed him while still in the hospital…
so very many little things we had yet to learn.
(Like to cover his equipment when changing him,
so I wouldn’t (but did!) get a shower…)

He went from the baby outfits to toddler quickly,
too quickly,
just as the years since that time have also gone by
so very quickly.
Two more followed Josh –
Luke, then Zach, and by now
I had figured out where they were coming from.
The human body is a marvelous thing,
but the female human body is a wonderful thing…
able to take a bit of me and a bit of you,
and build and present to the world
a bit of both of us, together!
You did it three times in total,
and I love you for each and every time.

I hated it when your feet would hold the impressions of your fingers,
and I couldn’t do anything to make it feel better for you.
I hated it when you got tired and I could not take your tiredness away.
When you could not get comfortable to sleep I wanted to much to replace that discomfort
with peaceful rest, but that’s why God made woman the way He did —
a woman is so very able to handle nearly everything that comes her way –
pain, tiredness, sleeplessness, worry, hurt, tears….
it seems that it’s all in a day’s work for a woman.
Makes me realize how very fortunate I am to be a male.

There were so many times in the last 45 years that have given me smiles,
made me happy, and given me so much more than I had,
or have, any right to at all.
However, I am still here, you are still here, and we are still here….
and I am so very, very happy about that.

I could go on and on,
about all the different cars we’ve had,
our trailer, then this, our “starter home,”
and the fact that we never seemed to get some of the things we dreamed about,
but the bottom line is that we have each other and our boys, and all of that time….
all of that 45 years….
so many things, so many happenings, so many experiences….
schools, baseball, dance classes, soccer, theater,
even a lot of frightening things involving frightening things…
but we still made it, so far.

You know, I really don’t deserve you.
I admit that you had every reason to toss me to the curb,
more times than I want to admit,
but you didn’t.
And I love you for that.
Yes, it’s been a hell of a long and tortureous road,
and we’ve hit just about every pothole there was,
but we’re still here,
still going, still putting up with each other,
and I cannot imagine putting up with anyone else.
And to think, it all started when I walked into the gym room
at that singles mixer, and heard,
“Hank! What are YOU doing here?!!”
I really didn’t know, then,
but I was sure gonna find out.

I love you, Bobbie – more than I have a right to.
And I appreciate the fact that I can say that to you.
Thank you, for the last 45 years of our lives.
It’s been rough, but it’s been a lot of fun, too.

-hank

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