A Thank You Note to My Wife on Our 33rd Anniversary

Most who read this might find it strange that I am thanking you for not being with me today. You were not with me while I played golf (very badly) with 3 of my long time golfing companions. You were not with me when I decided to go with Richie to the Yankee game this evening. You are not with me now as you traveled up to Great Barrington this afternoon with friends. You will not even be with me tomorrow morning when I play yet another round of golf (also, quite certainly, very badly) with 7 golfing companions. In short, after 6:30 this morning, we spent our entire anniversary apart. I thank you for allowing me, and my passions to be important today, of all days. I thank you for making each day matter, but none matter more than another.

I thank you for accepting that first date. I thank you for our first tennis game. I thank you for your Mom and Dad. I thank you for rescuing me every night while I was studying for the bar exam. I thank you for your Mom fixing my bow tie right before the wedding ceremony. I thank you for our first apartment. I thank you for not letting me bid on every house we saw. I thank you for Tenafly.

I thank you for bringing the oranges to all Alex's soccer games. I thank you for finding that sign language class for her. I thank you for loving that Saab even with the push pins, the rust and the water seeping in. I thank you for helping Richie make that school project object that looked like a hamburger. I thank you for the centerpieces made out of old ski boots. I thank you for those car rides back and forth from the Berkshires with the kids talking, arguing, or sleeping. I thank you for Coal, Shadow, Mickey and Banjo. I thank you for the mogul runs I made you take a little too early in the vacation. I thank you for enjoying shoveling manure. I thank you for being the co-chef with Richie in his search for the perfect edible alternatives.

I thank you for sleeping with the air conditioning on in our bedroom even though you are freezing and even though the noise wakes you up throughout the night. I thank you for doing all those chores I don't do because I am very bad at them. I thank you for not worrying at all the things I worry needlessly about. I thank you for being the handyman and the moving man. I thank you for taking those long walks with me. I thank you for the bike rides I am now starting to enjoy. I thank you for thinking 5:30 is an actual dinner time and 10 PM is late. I thank you for making me feel that my writing has value. I thank you for the joy in your face when you do something well. I thank you for introducing me to a very interesting group of people known as ski patrollers. I thank you for putting up the plaque listing all those in my bunk from Camp Akiba. I thank you for the way you help me out with my mom. I thank you for all the things you do with Richie. I thank you for driving with me in the middle of the night to pick up Alex. I thank you for still laughing with me. I thank you for never going to sleep angry. I thank you for letting me discover new joys in the Berkshires. I thank you for refusing to get old.

I thank you for the million things I did not thank you for over the past 33 years.

I thank you for where we are now, and where I hope we will be tomorrow. I thank you for all the yesterdays and all the days to come. I thank you for today. I thank you for being my wife.

I hope you sleep well tonight and I will see you tomorrow afternoon. I love you.