Twenty Years Ago Today

This is special day in my household--a milestone in no uncertain terms. Twenty years ago, I committed myself. No, not to a mental institution -- though some would argue that point. I committed to an notion that had floated in my head since I was a young teen. For some crazy reason, I thought there was a special someone, out there among the masses, that I'd be with, happily, until the day I died. It just took a couple of decades for it to arrive, that's all.

Yes, friends, this blogger is an some sort of idiot crazy romantic. Oh, there were plenty fits and starts in this endeavor (to borrow Jen's one word resolution for this year) before meeting her. Train Wrecks Galore (yes, I once dated the younger sister to that Bond girl from Goldfinger). And of course, this put me on a road that had plenty of U-turns and accidents--relationship-wise. Add to this the expectation that the person I'd marry would also be the mother of my children, too. You see I had to set that goal just high enough to clothesline myself, to be sure.

Remember, this was the late 60's. I often wondered why I kept that hope alive in my head over the span of time since then. And it was too easy to become cynical, as well. I figured that the dream, as I would later learn to see it and keep to myself, sprung from being a child of divorce. It all comes down to bitter history--witnessing, from a front row seat at age four, how your parents could disintegrate as a set when one of them choose not to care of the effects of walking away. That skepticism almost cost me, dearly.

It was a cloudless, clear Saturday that one would not have expected, even in L.A. An 80 degree-day that sprang up during our normally wettest month. Back in 1989 I married my best friend, the mother of our children, and my partner in life. Easy words to say. And at times, it was hard to believe that it would ever come true. But, it did. I may refer to my spouse in a glib manner at times, but there is no one I respect, love and trust more in this world. And if she reads this, hopefully my wife will realize that I consider myself the luckiest man on Earth to have her as my bride--then and now. Happy Anniversary, Andy.