Ten years ago today, Laura and I were married. It was the warmest day on record for February in Michigan. I like to think the sun defeated winter for us, and whether by happy accident or twist of fate that sunshine in winter (I try not to think of it as global warming) has been our blessing. For all who have witnessed it, it is a hot intemperate love that riots against the season, against all advice and counsel, against all rational thought, and one that can both repel with it’s heat, and pull you in with its gravity. Because of this giant ball of gas, (my wife can attest to this) it will burn immemorial, perhaps not as a lesson to others as the best way, but it is our way; to be both wild and constant in the face of adversity.
My love for Laura in this leap year can now have its day twice in a row in California.
When we were married, we had no money, no place to live, and a young son. Some folks start out with a lot less, we had good family and much support in those early years, so in some ways, this day is as much for them as it is for us. Hopefully we can give back in the years to come while we have more in the material wealth and youth.
For Laura, (my laura not Petrarch’s Laura)
*Petrarch*
bq. _O blessed Sun! that sole sweet leaf I love,
First loved by thee, in its fair seat, alone,
Bloometh without a peer, since from above
To Adam first our shining ill was shown.
Pause we to look on her! Although to stay
Thy course I pray thee, yet thy beams retire;
Their shades the mountains fling, and parting day
Parts me from all I most on earth desire.
The shadows from yon gentle heights that fall,
Where sparkles my sweet fire, where brightly grew
That stately laurel from a sucker small,
Increasing, as I speak, hide from my view
The beauteous landscape and the blessed scene,
Where dwells my true heart with its only queen._