This is my 13th birthday with my love, my Danny.
Today I am 73 years old.
When we met I was 60. How did I become 73 years old? We have filled the past twelve years with dancing, bike rides, hikes, walks, and quiet days and nights on end in the middle of nowhere…..just the two of us together. The years have flown by. Each day together has been a gift.
Raising my children, spending time with our grandchildren, and the past twelve years have been the best years of my life…
73 seems old, but I feel as if we are youngsters who just fell in love yesterday. But this isn’t true, because I love my Danny even more than I did all those years ago when we fell in love and promised to cherish each other forever.
We have spent minute of every day together since that evening when we fell in love—on our first date, when we talked for hours on end and danced long into the night. Even then we couldn’t stand the idea of being apart.
We fell in love just before my 61st birthday….our first birthday together. Dan took me on a dinner/dance cruise off of Seattle’s waterfront in Puget Sound. We had the dance floor to ourselves. We held each other close and danced as the boat rocked in the waves and sun set the Olympic Mountains.
You can see our joy and love we had for each other 12 year ago….
And that joy and love has not diminished. It has only grown with each minute, each precious year that we have spent together.
Today, my 73rd birthday, was my best birthday ever!
We hiked across Graybill Meadow in the morning.
All our family, children, and grandchildren wished me a VERY Happy Birthday.
And my Danny never left my side today, on my birthday, as on everyday. He gave me gifts and cards and gave me his love…..the best gift ever!
We love the two signs National Forest signs that he gave me. They are what we have seen hundreds of times as we have hiked thousands of miles in the grasslands, forests, deserts, and mountains of our beautiful country. I always try to find an old rusted sign that is no longer usable, so we can have a remembrance of such happy, rewarding days hiking together.
Dan found these “vintage” reproductions, so I don’t have to “steal” one. Thank you, Danny, now I won’t end up in jail…and I get to have my signs too.
Putting up our signs….one the gate of on my Valentine Lot:
And on the other on the gate of the front deck of our cabin:
Every time we see these signs they will remind us of so many special days.
Dan also gave me a large set of metal Seattle Police buttons—the same vintage as the buttons that I had on my SPD uniform in 1976. I think I will use them to decorate a blanket that I’ll knit using yarn in the same blue and yellow as the Seattle Police patch that I wore on my shoulders.
He barbecued steaks for our dinner, and we had berry pie with LOTS of ice cream for my birthday cake.
Of course, we held each other close and we danced and danced. You can see the joy and love we have for each other, just as we did 12 years ago on my 61st birthday….except there is even more joy and love as the years have sweetened our love for each other!
This week we’re heading out to the Mogollon Rim in our Turtle (F350 with a slide-in camper) for my birthday camping trip. We are bringing our bikes and all our hiking gear. We’ll hear the coyotes singing under the full moon, and we will make more beautiful memories together.
I am the luckiest girl in the whole wide world!
No comments:
Post a Comment