Two Little Boys - All Grown Up

I never, EVER thought I would marry someone who had been married before...
much less someone with children already!
But I found a man who not only wept when Bette Midler sang "The Rose"...
but whose eyes glistened when he talked about his kids...

and he suckered me right in...

I was single until I was almost 30...  and suddently I was married with an auto-family
which included TWIN 8-year old boys. 
Well... what can be said? 
We had some rough years... can you spell "understatement?"   

Sometimes I think if we hadn't had that "little piece of paper"... honestly, I don't know...
but I DID have it... so when things got rough, I stuck around,
took a deep breath and maybe slammed a door or two (or three or four)...
and pretty soon one of those little hellions would climb into my lap and say,
"I love you Mommy"
Well... hearts melt whether you are biologically related or not.

The mountains are hard to climb, and the valleys are low,
but the view gets better and better every time.
And now... what a spectacular view indeed!

Today they celebrate their 37th birthday... 

I wanted to do this video for their 30th... and for their 35th...

but my ADHD spazzoid self, procrastinated until now...

I'm so proud of who they have become...

for the love and patience they also shared with me...

for the things we have learned about life, on this journey together!

Happy Birthday Matt and Gabe!