You may not believe it when I tell you\n, but I am blessed beyond belief. Actually, I really could give a\nrip as to whether you believe me or not, because it\u2019s true!! So\nthere!! Put that in your smipe and poke it!! Sure, I\u2019m getting\nold. I\u2019m older than compost!! But one thing nice about being\nolder, at least for me, is that I\u2019ve suffered more than enough\ngrowing pains for one lifetime. And I may have even learned a few\nthings along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, please don\u2019t misunderstand me\nwhen I start bribbling about having learned stuff. If you know me\nwell, you know from time to time I\u2019ll mention that I\u2019m on a\nconstant recovery journey. That\u2019s right, friends, I\u2019m trying\nevery day to recover from the dreaded Mr. Know-It-All<\/strong><\/em>\nDisease<\/strong><\/em>. Some days I try harder than others\u2026 but I\nthink I\u2019m getting better at it. I hope. Maybe. I just don\u2019t\nknow!! To quote the late Alistair Sim, who, in my professional\nopinion performed the very best film rendition of Ebenezer Scrooge,\n\u201cI don\u2019t know anything\u2026 I never did <\/strong><\/em>know\nanything!! But now I KNOW<\/strong><\/em> I don\u2019t\nknow anything!!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n With a little help from my friends and\nThe People Upstairs, I\u2019ve made it to a time in life where I can\ndefinitely relate to Mr. Scrooge’s awakening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So why, you may ask, am I so blessed? \nOK so maybe you didn\u2019t ask. Well if you don\u2019t wanna know, quit\nreading awreddy!! Otherwise, know this: I\u2019m in love with\nTHE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN THE UNIVERSE!!<\/strong><\/em> And guess what?? \nSHE LOVES ME BACK!!<\/strong><\/em> Or at least, she says she does. \nNow all you other women in the universe, please don\u2019t fret; because\nmy professional opinion is that although my Beautiful Girlfriend is\nthe Most Beautiful Woman In The Universe, ALL <\/strong>other women are\nthe Second Most Beautiful. <\/strong><\/em>God doesn\u2019t make junk,\nyou see\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wow\u2026 can you believe that this coming\nSunday is May 19th<\/sup> already?? And you might say, yeah, so\nwhat?? And then I might say, \u201cwhaddya mean, so what???!!!\u201d And\nthen I might go on to say, \u201cthis May 19th<\/sup> is the 47st<\/sup>\nanniversary of my first official date with THE MOST BEAUTIFUL\nWOMAN IN THE UNIVERSE!!<\/strong><\/em>\u201d I can\u2019t believe it\u2019s 47 years\nalready!! Seems like just yesterday, or perhaps the day before!! OK\nmaybe a couple weeks or months\u2026 but 47 years??!! Sheesh!! So why,\nyou might ask, would I remember the exact date?? Well since you\u2019ve\nbeen silly enough to read this far, I\u2019ll spill the beans. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n A little Cosmic Holy Mackerel first: \nwhen I was 12, my family moved from Long Island, New York to the\nNorth Woods of Wisconsin. When she was 17. her family moved from\nFerndale, Michigan (near Detroit) to the North Woods of Wisconsin. \nNow here comes the Cosmic Holy Mackerel part: after Christmas\nvacation of our senior year in high school, we were planted next to\neach other in study hall. I’m very certain that The People Upstairs\nwere pulling strings. We instantly became friends, and then she\npulled a dirty trick: she changed her wardrobe from jeans and smock\ntops to dresses and makeup. My reaction was: holy crap, I\nthink she likes me!! <\/strong><\/em>I\nfell head over heels in love. She went back to the\njeans and smock tops; but by then all I could see were her beautiful\nblue eyes. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now comes the May 19th<\/sup> part:\n Katie, a young lady from Chicago with whom I had a long distance\nrelationship, was coming up to the resort on the lake where we lived.\n We saw each other when her family came up on vacations and wrote\nletters in between. But my last\ncouple of letters mentioned a new friend I met in study hall named\nKathy. Then on May 19, 1972, Katie and her family came up from\nChicago; and of course, she expected me to come visit. I\nrode my 1970 Honda CB175 racing bike over to the resort; and told\nKatie about my new love. It was a rather unpleasant thing to do\u2026\nKatie wasn\u2019t shocked but she definitely was not very happy. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the nasty deed was done, I hopped\non back on my racing bike (OK, it’s not really a racing bike) to go\nmeet up with my sweetie. We had a very provocative first date: we\nrode to the fire tower and climbed up to admire the view. Then we\ngot in the flat bottom boat and I rowed around the lake a bit\u2026 then\nwe went for ice cream\u2026 then back to the fire tower at night to\nenjoy the view again. No kissing, no holding hands, no monkey\nbusiness. Just deep friendship that was quickly evolving in to much,\nmuch more. A little over a year later, we were married at the ripe\nold age of 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Much has changed over the years, but we\nbelieve the strong friendship gave us a foundation on which to build\na lasting, loving partnership. Our love just keeps getting better\nall the time. I still have the 1970 Honda CB175 we rode around back\nin those days. It hasn\u2019t run in years, and I doubt it would\naccommodate us very well now (we may have um\u2026 \u201cgrown\u201d a bit). \nI also have the flat bottom boat\u2026 still floats after many patches\nand gobs of silicone sealant. It sits on the shore of a much smaller\n\u201clake\u201d now\u2026 our pond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what has changed? Tons!! But since\nI can\u2019t speak for my Beautiful Girlfriend, I can only mention some\nof my stuff. Most importantly, I\u2019ve lost the \u201crequirement\u201d to\nbe right all the time. I am by no means perfect at this, but I\u2019m\ntrying to remain in recovery from this Mr. Know-It-All Disease. I\ncan still be a stinker, but not nearly as often. And when I am, I’m\nmuch quicker to apologize (and mean it). During \u201cThe Great\nAdjustment Period\u201d in our early married years, we\u2019d make each\nother cry a little more often than we care to remember. Now we make\neach other laugh, and we know how to be silly with each other and not\ntake it personally. We are best friends. She even lets me kiss\nher!! And<\/strong><\/em> she kisses me back!!<\/strong><\/em>\n \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyway\u2026 I\u2019m fortunate beyond my\nwildest dreams. We have a very good life. If our marriage survives\nuntil August, we’ll be dating for 47 years and married for 46 (I\nthink we’re gonna make it). Does that mean I’m getting old?? Not\nsure what old is supposed to feel like\u2026 but I don\u2019t feel old. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I feel lucky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n OK! Now it’s time to make with the mushy songs!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n