Sunday, June 14th, not only marks Flag Day, but my wedding anniversary as well. I have been married to this man for 41 years and have known him for 45.....goodness, that is a long, long time and I have to wonder where the time went.
I met Richard when I was 14 years old on a double date.....I was with one of his best friends and he with someone else as well. We immediately hit it off, much to our date's dismay, and had our first date the following weekend. Needless to say, he asked me to go "steady" on our first date one the front porch of the house we live in now. We bought my childhood home from my Mother 25 years ago because it had such sentimental value......to HIM more so than me, but I'm so glad we did. Two weeks out of high school, we were married.....it was a big wedding that I vaguely remember....I was so in love. I often remember thinking he was just as much in love with my family....especially my Daddy....as he was me. We were all devastated when less than a year later my Daddy and my sister's husband were tragically killed in a car wreck. I always told people that Richard married me for my Daddy and my car, and we didn't get to keep either one. Two years into our marriage his Mother died of sudden heart failure on Thanksgiving. The same year we discovered I could not have children.....and we bought our first house with me being just 19 years of age........I was very old at a very young age. Four years into our marriage we adopted a beautiful baby girl who remains our sunshine.......she is expecting our first grandbaby on September 1.......life is good. Richard had his first heart attack at the age of 32.....I had breast cancer 7 years ago.......we got each other through it. People ask me what the secret of a long, happy marriage is and how we have made it through all of the years.......I tell people we literally grew up together. We were so very young that we experienced life together which bonded us for life. I know him like the back of my hand and don't try to take advantage of that. We talk, we disagree, and we love. I honestly believe there is nothing he will not do, or try to do, to make me happy. He has always been a wonderful Daddy, a good provider, a hard worker, my biggest fan, and my absolute hero.........I do love this man of mine.
