Today is a TERRIFIC anniversary! . . .

Mark and I have been married now for 18 years!  Amazing! Neither of us ever spent more than 3 or 4 years dating or married to ANYONE before that.    

But thanks to Jan and Mike, we got together initially shortly after THEY got married.  I saw Mark for the first time at Jan and Mike's wedding here in Baton Rouge, but I had left Baton Rouge after living here for about 12 years and I was then in college over in Texas at the time.  But I didn't meet Mark there at their wedding because I thought he was with his wife (but I found out later that it wasn't his wife -- it was just his sister!).  But the next time I came over to Baton Rouge to visit Jan and Mike, she introduced us and I thought he was GREAT!  So then Mark and I got together every time I came over here to Baton Rouge to visit after that, and we hung out together all the time in our e-mails as well.  

But once I graduated, I moved up to Cincinnati where I was originally planning to go to law school up there.  Then Mark visited me up there as well -- and that did it!  Eventually we got married up in Dayton where my family all live, and then he moved me down from Cincinnati back to Baton Rouge because he worked offshore out in the Gulf of Mexico.  Once I got back down here, I went to work at Taylor Porter where I worked for 18 years as well. I retired from Taylor Porter back in July, but I will NEVER leave Mark.  

From the time we were married back in 1997 until March of this year, Mark was only home for two weeks at a time, then he'd be gone to work offshore for the next two weeks.  When we were originally married I thought that was a great thing since I had lived alone (and loved that) for decades.  But as time went on, I really missed him a lot when he was gone. We would talk on the phone every single night, but of course I was home alone every other two weeks from the time we married until this year!  But hey -- NO MORE!!  We're finally both retired, and our life together now is incredibly wonderful! 

The only time we ever get photos together is when we go out to eat with Jan and Mike for our anniversary (usually out on a porch next to the lake).  So here are a number of them.  And I hope we'll get still another when we go out this weekend!  

LIFE IS GREAT!!

Okay! . . . we did get anniversary pictures taken by Jan again this year -- love these!