Happy Anniversary

Thirty-one years ago on 26-Nov-1982, I told Renee "I do". And I still do... love her compassionate and generous spirit, her strength in the face of adversity, and her unassailable integrity. She has made me a better man, a happier person, and I look forward to sharing the new challenges and horizons she is pursuing. Renee, I love you. You make me whole, you big-hearted, baby-huggin', helper of the helpless, mentor to the needy, and phone chat addict!

As the Ruin Falls

All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
I never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through:
I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, re-assurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin:
I talk of love – a scholar’s parrot may talk Greek –
But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

Only that now you have taught me (but how late) my lack.
I see the chasm. And everything you are was making
My heart into a bridge by which I might get back
From exile, and grow man. And now the bridge is breaking.

For this I bless you as the ruin falls. The pains
You give me are more precious than all other gains.

C.S. Lewis