Happy Valentine's Day, Mary!

Today marks the thirty-seventh anniversary of the happiest day—or night—in my life. On a predictably frigid Nebraska night, Mary Jean James agreed to go on a blind date with yours truly to the Valentine’s Day dance held in the cafeteria of Nebraska Wesleyan University’s campus center. My good friend, Neal Mersman (Sacko) had been dating an Alpha Gamma Delta named Vickie Peterson and Vickie approached her sorority sister with a carefully calculated proposal to double-date (my investment in a 1963 Chevy Biscayne was paying off big time) to the dance. Obviously, the evening surpassed my expectations and it’s been Mary and me ever since. It may appear that I have simply done a cut and paste job on last year’s entry, but I can truthfully report that this is not the case. Neither of us could have known what the years ahead would hold for us, but in that moment of what Joseph Campbell might call the recognition of our oneness it didn’t really matter. The world was ours to be shared together, and I am blessed to report that love between us has only grown stronger over the years. In her card to me this morning, Mary wrote that she was glad that I persisted in my pursuit of a snooty AGD. To her I can only reply that it was the best plan of action I ever came up with in my life.