Anniversary Song

(Today is our fifty-first wedding anniversary. I couldn't find anything more appropriate to say than what I wrote two years ago on our 49th--I still believe it holds true today.)

49 Years.

Where did they go?

49 Years.
What do they mean?
49 Years.
It all began under an October harvest moon.
49 Years.
She was 21 – I was 25.
49 Years.
We are much older now than our parents were

dressed in their finery that snowy evening.
49 Years.
Loving the little girl, then the
little boy who graced our lives.
49 Years.
Wearing a gold ring that never
turned green.
49 Years.
Of struggle, fear, frustration and
fun, fun, fun.
49 Years.
Of lying next to the one
who keeps you warm and safe.
49 Years.

Of packing and moving and packing
and moving and packing and moving.
49 Years.
Of saying goodbye and hello and
goodbye and hello.
49 Years.
Of fighting over the tiniest of things.
49 Years.
On agreeing on what really matters.
49 Years.
Like water on a rock—altering, changing
making smooth and shiny.
49 Years.
Of stretching and forgiving 
and hurting and healing.
49 Years.
Where did they go?
49 Years.
What do they mean?
49 Years.

Finally learning love not an emotion
or an act or a word but much, much more.
49 Years.
Love is a bridge that helped me/us
over many troubled and peaceful waters.
49 Years.
Grateful. Humble. Joy-filled. Maddening.
Comfortable. Confusing and Right.
49 Years.
Where did they go?
49 Years.
Much, much too fast.
49 Years.
What do they mean?
Every thing.
Everything.