My wife and I

Lauren and I just celebrated fourteen years married together on the 18th.

Sometime in year three or four or so, I wrote her a poem (as I often did, and occasionally still do) to express my feelings of “till death do us part.” Years later, I was writing a short story about a couple of old people in a nursing home who fell in love against the wishes of their feuding children. It’s sort of a flipped-take on Romeo and Juliet. I managed to incorporate my poem to Lauren into the story.

Here’s how it read:

I LOVE YOU IN THE MORNING
AND WHEN YOU WAKE ME UP

I LOVE YOU IN THE MIDDAY SUN
MY JOY, YOU FILL ITS CUP

I LOVE YOU WHEN THE SUN IS SETTING
AND WHEN I CLOSE MY EYES

I’LL LOVE YOU IN THE EVER’AFTER
IN THE LAND WHERE NO ONE DIES

Fourteen years later those words are still true,
I’m thankful that I have her; I’m glad she said “I do.”