“A happy marriage is a long conversation which always seems too short.”~ Andre Maurois

Dear Skip, Today marks the day of our forty-first anniversary and I wanted to let you know I love you very much and I appreciate you. It’s been a strange couple of years with, you know, the pandemic, but we weathered the storm, adjusted the sails and survived. As Jenny Mahon would say, “We drive, you thrive, ” which actually has nothing to do with this post, but I am trying to get the “Skipney” marketing out there.

Thank you for driving me places I need to go, and your patience with me during our 16 hour road trips, as I know I am possibly high on the list of worst passengers ever. Though I’d apprecaite it if you stopped glaring at bad drivers, as I am sure I am going to get shot in the crossfire one day!

“The secret to a happy marriage is if you can be at peace with someone within four walls, if you are content because the one you love is near to you, either upstairs or downstairs, or in the same room, and you feel that warmth that you don’t find very often, then that is what love is all about”. ~ Bruce Forsyth

I can honestly say that most times we are at peace and pretty darn happy. Part of that has to do with my amazing sense of humor. Most days I can find the humor in life, but these past couple of years it has been a little harder to find the laughter, and I thank you for being there for me on the funny and not so funny days. I do think that scotch may have played a part in helping you to be more peaceful, but that is just one woman’s opinion. As Tom Haas would say, “Asking for a friend.”

Thank you for encouraging me to work at the vaccine clinics in North Carolina, and thank you for helping direct traffic at the clinic despite the fact that someone drove into a ditch. It was fun to work side by side with you not selling baseball bats!

Thank you for the boat rides, you are the best captain, I mean Skipper! It is fun to be your first mate! Do you see where I went there, mate=wife, you know what I mean.

Thank you for being terrible at Game of Thrones Monopoly but playing it anyway! I am sorry that you are so awful at mini golf but thank you for being a good sport and playing anyway!

Thank you for being a wonderful grandfather also known as “Yamma-Pa,” and teaching Carter and Betsy about “leveraging synergy, trial balloons, benchmarks, bandwidth, boiling the ocean and core competencies.”

Even after 41 years of marriage, we still clean up nicely.

Thank you for listening to me when I just need to “emote,” I know how much you love to talk about “feelings,” especially with Harry, since you are so “woke”.

I can’t imagine my life without you. I love you. Happy Anniversary!

“A happy marriage is a long conversation which always seems too short.” ~Andre Maurois