Next week on April 22, “this guy” and I will be celebrating our 31st wedding anniversary 💖

We met four years before that, so technically we’re celebrating 35 years together 😮

This is one of the first cards I made, and I found it to be a very interesting process speaking from the card as if I were Jeff!   It gave me a whole new perspective on our marriage . . . and on him as a person.

This is the journaling I did back in 2005 (when we’d been married for 10 years):

Who are you?
I am the one who loves you unconditionally.  I am the one who is fun and easy-going and loves to laugh.  I am the one who is strong and stable and steady.  I am your rock.  I am the one who is hard-working and dependable.  I am the one who loves people and who always believes the best of people. I am the one who embodies positive living.  I am the one who is a good father and who wants the best for my children.  I am the one who manifests abundance by the way I live and think.  I am the one with a big, wide heart.

What do you have to give me?
I give you an abundance of love and support and kindness and grace.  I give you the knowing that you are unconditionally loved.  I give you my everything.  I give you financial security freely and with no strings attached because I love you.

What do you want from me?
I just want your love, and for you to be kind to my children and to my mother.  I want you to be there for me, and to have fun together with you on our many vacations.

And this is the way this Neter answers my questions today, after 35 years of loving . . . can you see/hear a difference that suggests a long journey?

Who are you?
I am the one who continues to love you unconditionally, no matter your moods and perceived failures. I am the one who supports your creative endeavors. I am the one who said “We will get through this together” when you told me you had breast cancer. I am the one who has honored your long desire to live in Maine. I am the one who gives you space to read and write and make art. I am the one who is proud of you. I am the one who has honored my commitment to walk beside you, no matter what. I am the one who loves my children and grandchildren. I am the one who loves going to the theatre with you, and watching TV with you, and snuggling with you and Louis at night before we sleep. I am the one who depends on you to help me see what I cannot see.

What do you have to give  me?
My gifts to you are my solid foundation, my generous spirit, my loving heart. I have the gift of steadfastness that has kept you steady on your journey forward. My gifts include financial wisdom and a practical approach to living and to our lives. 

What do you want from me?
I want you to speak kindly to me.  I want you to grow older with me. I want you to enjoy our time together. I want you to understand that we are very different people, and to focus on what we have in common instead of our differences. I want you to remember that I love you.