Love Letters...

My daughter caught me crying... sitting on the floor... 
surrounded by boxes...

a piece of paper in my hand...

 "What is that, Mom?  

It looks like dad's handwriting."

She was right... 

it was her father's handwriting. 
I recognized the D.J.
(he acronymed me from the start)

He would copy lyrics to songs,

and leave them on the windshield of my 73 Super Beetle,  wrapped in plastic, in case it rained...

it was Portland, after all.

I'm so glad she caught me...

It was nice for her to see that

underneath all the crap (literally), there really is love...  

At least it started out that way.

So right there, 

in the middle of all the muck...

After hours of sorting and purging... 

I was rewarded with this sweet memory... 

My husband's version of a love letter:

Just remember in the winter...

Far beneath the bitter snows...

Lies the seed that with the sun's love...

in the Spring... becomes the Rose...

30 years ago... in the 3rd row of the intimate Portland Paramount Theater...

Marcel's eyes glistened as Bette Midler sang this song.
We've been married almost 29 years.

I haven't thought about him like that for quite some time... 

what a lovely way to start the new year...

The digital age is wonderful...but some things can only be properly expressed with a pen and sheet of notebook paper...

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!