Today my wife Alice and I have been married forty-three years. We greeted each other with a hug this morning, as is our wont. After we wished each other a happy anniversary, Alice leaned her head toward mine and said, “Nevertheless, we persisted.”
And in fact, my friends, that’s what she said.
So tonight I salute our persistence, and I publicly state, not for the first time and not for the last either, that I am a very, very lucky man indeed.
Pictured below is a scene from early in our marriage in which Alice’s loving gaze carries just a hint, just a casual warning, of the exasperation I was no doubt busily eliciting at that very moment.
I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for whatever I was doing, or about to do, in the moment pictured above. Still, she is adorable, as I’m sure you’ll agree.
Here’s another photo from our salad days, when we were about to make the second big move of our young lives: from Charlottesville and graduate school (and the dissertation I had become expert at not writing) to Chapel Hill, NC and Alice’s dazzling one-year-and-a-summer progress through a two-year Masters of Library Science degree program.
And here, earliest of all, is Alice holding a cake made for her bridal shower. The cake reads “Three Cheers for Alice and Gardner.”
Today, it’s forty-three cheers for us. A cheer for each year.
And here’s to many more.
It takes some gumption to share a life for a long time–or at all, for that matter.
Nevertheless, we persisted.
And I hereby declare: Gardner loves Alice. Still, and always.
Happy anniversary!
Thank you for sharing and indeed happy anniversary to you both!
Wonderful, Gardner! Congrats to you and Alice!
A wonderful story well told Gardner. Congratulations to you and your lady
Y’all are endlessly beautiful. May you two be blessed with many more years of happiness!
Congratulations to you both, and thanks for sharing your remarkable journey. 1979 was a very good year!
I feel lucky to have known, at that time, the people in the first two pictures. You all are a wonders-fill, boots on the ground couple, who made a positive, indelible mark on my life and so many others. Happy prime number 43.
Huzzah!! What a lovely recollection. Happy Anniversary!!!
Bravo, Gardo! We’re headed for 58 years (in September), and currently preparing a joint photography show to celebrate. My part is gathering momentum at http://oook.info/Sept22Show/GG22v3.html
Happy Anniversary!
Make it 44 cheers with a big one from me. I cannot decide which photo I love more (I do like how much I can see your faces in the Charlottesville one), so I opted out and love most your message of love.
I’ve known you both for only 15 of your 43 together but so cherish the times we’ve had together and knowing what your togetherness means is inspirational.
Congratulations! “See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds, With joy and love triumphing…”
Congratulations, best wishes for the next 43!