A milestone

Today Charlie and I have been married for 30 years. We didn't have much time to celebrate but some dear sweet friends, Eugene and Yaenette, came over to baby sit the puppies and Gabby while we went to dinner. Yaenette asked what was our secret to such a long marriage.

I really don't know as there have been times that have been enormously happy, times of enornmous sadness, times of frustration, times of peacefulness, but through it all there has been the idea that we have been friends and that we have respect for each other. I also think that because we have worked together (our offices are on the same hall) ever since we were married, it has been important to have activities that we appreciated but didn't necessarily share. I enjoy excercising of all kinds and, of course, showing the dogs and now judging. Charlie enjoys woodworking, fishing (which I also enjoy) and gardening (which I like too). So there are things that we share together and things that we do separately.

Charlie has always been very supportive of the dogs but doesn't like dog shows and would rather be at home than in a social situation. I enjoy meeting people and feel happy being in crowds or alone in the woods. He is quiet and I'm more outgoing. It's yin and yang for the most part.

I'll share with you the prayer that was written on a plain sheet of paper in the anniversary greeting that Charlie gave to me. It is the prayer of St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.