From This Day Forward

                                      

 10,957 days

That’s a lot of days.

30 years’ worth, to be exact.

30 years ago today, in the sweltering September heat, in front of family and friends…the Boss and I promised

to love and to hold

from this day forward,

for better or for worse,

for richer or for poorer,

in sickness and in health,

to love and to cherish until death do us part.

As we walked back down the aisle as husband and wife, the Boss pumped his fist in the air at his work buddies sitting in the back row.    

“from this day forward” had just begun…

In the past 10,957 days---

We’ve had our fair share of good days.

There have been some long days.

We’ve spent countless days working/waiting through house construction. THREE different times!

We’ve had some hard days…

This place was just an abandoned sheep field when we purchased it.

We’ve had some really scary days.

That whole “in sickness and in health thing”…

We’ve had some amazing days.

It was exciting to welcome babies,

1988

1990

 watch them grow and learn and turn into grown-ups almost overnight.

Betsy and Josh - 2009

Amanda and Tyler - 2010

We’ve had some very distressing, hurtful and sad days.

But, today I choose to gloss over those.

We’ve had fun days, weird days…there have been days that were just plain exhausting, silly, confusing, exciting, challenging and successful, to name a few.

Let’s face it…we’ve just had a LOT of days.

We’ve worked side by side (without any major mishap OR too many arguments) for 6,267 of those days. In the past 17+years here on the hill, we have only been apart for two days. That fact, in and of itself, is somewhat astonishing to me. (and I’m guessing the Boss is sorta surprised, too)

We never set out thinking of a number of days as a goal.  It has always been just one day at a time. A whole lot of times.

 …from this day forward…

After all those days, one might think that we would be full of sage advice to those starting out or for those struggling to maintain. I could ramble on and on about love and respect…and working together. But, there’s not much to say that I haven’t already written. Please click on the words to see what I’ve written about TEAMWORK... being CO-WORKERS,  and how our life together has been a long and WINDING ROAD.

But, I honestly think Lee Brice nailed it when he recorded “Love like Crazy”

Be a best friend, tell the truth
And overuse I love you
Go to work, do your best
Don't outsmart your commonsense
Never let your prayin' knees get lazy
And love like crazy!

30 years later
a little worse for wear
but, still together!

Love you, Boss! 

…from this day forward...