28 Years

Twenty-eight years ago, on another Friday, I said my "I dos" and became a Mrs.

It's hard to believe, really. Such a long time! But it seems like just yesterday.

Here we are then!

Open wide!

Here we are now.

I can't believe we're heading on the other side of the hill now, my love and I. We've had some interesting times. He has remained a steady force in my life and a big constant.

He joined the fire department six months before we married. Prior to that he had been helping his father with his backhoe business and his farm. He continued to do both of those jobs, too, while working at the fire department.

He moved up the career ladder there and is now a Battalion Chief. I am so proud of him. And he has continued to work those three jobs all this time.

We built a home together, literally, and have enjoyed living in the same house for 24 years. I worked my way through school, first getting my BA at Hollins in 1993 and now I will have my MA next year.

Our biggest heartbreak was our inability to have children, but we have our siblings' children to love and pamper. I tried to open my heart to the world and offer up information through my writing. I think I was successful at that for a while. Maybe still, I don't know. He's been a kind of dad to the whole fire department.

It's been a good, quiet life, and I am grateful to have lived it with him.

Thanks baby!


(P.S., The last picture is actually two years old, but I don't have a more current one with both of us in it.)