10.       You indulge me by listening to stories about baseball, history, cooking ideas, and countless other hobby-horses with which I am temporarily obsessed. If that’s not a gift of love, I don’t know what is. 

9.         You remember all the stories about my family that I forget. How do you do that? (By paying attention. Duh.) 

8.         You teach me things.  From Spanish to the importance of three breaths, you have opened my eyes to new delights and new ideas. 

7.         You support me. From job uncertainty at graduation to the grief over Mom’s death to job changes to countless self-questionings over mechanical ineptitude to parenting doubts to spiritual wanderings to writing self-doubt, you have always encouraged, comforted, and nurtured me. Thank you! 

6.         You let me—you make me—talk. You did it back in college, and you still do. You convince, cajole, and badger me into breaking the shackles of my inner Swede. And then, incredibly, you listen! 

5.         You fill the house with beauty and love. With the orchids you grow and the ceramics you find, your gentle soul and loving spirit, the counsel of your guides and your deft touch in implementing it, your voice and your still beautiful appearance, you’ve created a place that is serene and lovely, a garden where we may cling together and be filled with love, where others may visit and find peace.  

4.         Our bodies fit together so well. I feel nowhere more happy and at home than when we are in each other’s arms, your body fitting perfectly against mine, completing me. 

3.         Our souls fit together so well. Whether it’s because, as the kids say, we’re the same person, or as Briggs-Myers say, we’re neighbors, we often end up at the same place, despite taking different paths. And we know we can count on each other. I don’t know if we really did love each other in previous lives, but I’m sure glad we have in this one. 

2.       You’re so strong and firm. You often say that you are unsure of what to think, how to solve a problem, what step to take next. But your heart always guides you to the right decision, often before you even know it, and you are stalwart in sticking to what is right. 

1.      You’re you. Babe, you are the greatest gift I’ve ever been given. 

Thirty-plus years ago, we studied together, ate together, played together, ruminated and dreamed together. Now, we still do, and nothing is stale or worn about it. When I sneak a peek at you at your desk, my heart swells with happiness and a feeling of being blessed.  

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!