Monday, February 16, 2009

Personal Privilege

I very rarely invoke personal privilege here to just post something. But, I have to today. Yesterday was February 15, 2009. The day after Valentine's Day.

Also the date of my first "date" with my wife. If you can really call it a date. We were working at Hechinger's ("The World's Most Unusual Lumber Store") at the time. It was a Saturday. We worked closing and would have gotten off of work sometime around 10 pm (if I remember correctly). Since there was nothing else to do at 10 pm, we went to McDonald's. And got french fries. And ate them sitting in the car in the Hechinger parking lot while some other employees played music on their car stereo. Very romantic.

It was 1986. Twenty-three wonderful years ago yesterday. It would be a lie to say that every day has been perfect since then. It has been twenty-three years. Of course we have had our fights and our down times. But, those are almost non-existent in comparison. The important part is that we have been together and it has been wonderful, miraculous, and awesome. Every now and again I reflect on how incredibly lucky I am that I found my partner for life when I was 16, and that I already have had the pleasure of spending well more than half of my life with her. We have really grown into adulthood together, been through so many things, shared so many successes. Much more than my wife, Tracy is my confidant, the person that I can lean on and my best friend. The person that I want to share everything with.

At least a thousand times I have asked myself what I did to possibly deserve the gift of being with Tracy. I've never been able to come up with an answer that comes close, and I don't think that I ever will. But I thank God for that miracle.

So, although I personally think Valentine's Day is kind of a Hallmark/Flower Industry made holiday, February 15 is not. For me it is a reminder of one of the most significant miracles of my life. We did nothing special to celebrate yesterday. In fact, neither of us even mentioned it to the other (although I thought about it multiple times). Instead, we just went about our usual hectic, crazy, project infested and love filled life. And it was beautiful to me because we did it together, relying on and supporting each other. Not out of commitment or forced celebration or duty; but out of friendship, respect and love.

I don't acknowledge Tracy's importance in my life nearly enough - and I almost never mention her here. I'm not even really going to attempt to do that now. But for some reason sitting here in my office right now, I just wanted to share this little bit with whoever may be reading this.

Back to my regularly scheduled commentary soon.

1 comment:

Heidi Willis said...

this is beautiful. I'm always amazed that people find their other half so early...or maybe more amazed that they recognize it.

I'm so happy for you and Tracy and the life you've built together. Congrats on 23 great years!