* Happy Birthday My Love

I was twenty-nine and recently separated when I walked into the bar that night to visit with an old friend. While my friend and I were talking this tall, dark, and handsome stranger kept looking at me from across the pool table.

After awhile he came and sat down next to me. My Scorpio lighter was laying on the table and he looked at it and smiled. "A Scorpio huh, I'm a Leo."

The first words out of my mouth were "Leo's need to be worshiped."

He asked me to pick out some songs on the jukebox with him, so I did. He leaned over me protectively as I chose a few songs. "You smell good."

Later that evening he wrote his name and phone number on a slip of paper and slid it across the table. "what do you want me to do with this?" I asked?

"Call it."

I did.

I don't even believe in love at first sight, but there was no denying it over the next few weeks. We were instantly inseparable. He lived just a block or so from my grandmothers house where I was staying.

I would tuck the kids in and walk over to his house to spend the evening, he would lay on my lap while we watched movies and I played with his hair. We talked about nothing, we talked about everything and I prayed I wouldn't fall in love, not so soon after love had failed me so badly.

The worst part is, I already knew it was too late. I was in hook line and sinker.

He told me that he had never been in a real relationship before, nothing meaningful. He had never been serious about any of his girlfriend's, and had never told a girl he loved her, but he thought I was different somehow.

Two weeks later his mother called while I was visiting, and I overheard him tell her that he had finally found the one. My heart swelled and wilted at the same time. What was so special about me?

I finally decided he was going to stick around, and invited him over for a Valentine's dinner to meet the family. He was a confirmed bachelor after all and I had three children who were very upset about their parents divorce. That's not too much pressure is it?

No worries, the kids adored him, and still do.

That night after the kids were in bed he said "I love you." for the first time ever (at least to someone outside of his family) and the hook was set.

When I got my own place I asked him if he'd like to move in with me, and it was settled. We became a family. Things were a little shaky at first, but we figured it out. He never proposed, and I never said yes, it just became clear that we were going to get married and we started planning the wedding.

It was a beautiful ceremony that took place a year and a half after we met. We got married in the back yard of the family home that once belonged to my great-grandmother, then my great-uncle, and finally fell to my mother. The home we now live in!

We chose to have a Celtic hand fasting instead of a more traditional ceremony. We are after all far from the traditional couple. We had a lot of special symbolism in our vows, and it really was the wedding of my dreams.

Before we got married we had never had an actual fight, we were friends first and lovers second. Our first fight in fact happened a few months after we were married.

My cousin and I are like went for a drive which was a habit of ours going back to my teens. We just kept driving even when the road narrowed to a four-wheeler trail and eventually got stuck in a horrible bog. We had no idea where we were exactly but we called and gave him an idea of which road we had started out on.

He ended up tracking us the old fashioned way, stopping at every turn and looking for signs we had passed through. By then we had been missing for twelve hours. My husband was bright red when he got out of the truck to pull us free.

He had nearly totaled his truck because of the tight spaces. There were dents in every section of the truck except for the tail gate, he was so mad he was shaking. He told my cousin to shut up, and told me to get in the truck, sit down and shut up, we were going home.

He was mad at me for all of ten minutes too.

It would be nice to be perfect from time to time, but it sure sounds like a lot of pressure to me. No, he isn't perfect and neither am I (I'm far from it!) we have our flaws, and we have our differences, but we laugh, we hang out together, we enjoy one another's company.

The romance we had in the beginning is still there, he still gives me butterflies. Yet it has also grown into a natural and easy friendship, we just enjoy each others company warts and all.

Nobody is perfect, but two imperfect people really can be perfect for each other. (I'm sure he would like me to note here that he is so close to perfect it is scary.)

We have hit a few rough spots along the way, there was a time that nobody thought we would make it through, especially me. You didn't give up on me, on us. You hung on, and we made it through.

Not just small changes, but really major changes. You changed your entire life, and you did it for love. You have been good to me, you have been good to my kids, you have been good to my family.

I still don't know how I got so lucky, how you found me or why you chose to stay. Even through my worst times you have loved me. I love you more and more as each day passes, you give me so much of yourself and I know without a doubt how lucky I really am.

So here is to another birthday come and gone, another year older, another year wiser and another year blessed with you in my life. I wish I could give you every gift on this page, and someday hopefully I will...

Until then, just know that I love you with all my heart.