Karen and I enjoyed the garden at the Greenbriar Inn Thursday night to celebrate thirty-two years.   Our conversation was less nostalgic, and instead focused on our daughter’s upcoming wedding.  Nothing against my childhood, it was fine, but life for me didn’t start until I married Karen.  I imagine Brittany Noel might feel the same about her life thirty-two years from now.  There’s nothing quite like growing a family.

It’s common to hear people say marriage takes work.  It has its ups and downs.  All those cliches.  I don’t know.  Maybe I’ve been blessed.  Life has hardships for sure, but marriage, fatherhood, life over the past three decades has been a dream for me.  I would change nothing and repeat everything – given the chance.

Okay, maybe I would pick a cooler month to get married.  But then Brittany Noel isn’t getting married deep in Texas like Karen and I did.  Her nuptials will be high in the mountains.  I wish her and Eric all the love Karen and I have experienced.