i have loved quite a few women. i still love a bunch of them.

Some have loved me, for a while, or from a distance.

The one woman. The one woman i also love and also loves me has been with me for longer than i could have ever hoped for. She turns 66 today.

She has been beautiful all of her life.

And it seems like we have always had fun together from the beginning.

We married late. i was 39. She was 32. Yet it’s been almost 34 years ago. When we were married by my brother Joe, God bless him, the vows we made spoke volumes:

…Their love began as a friendship and grew far beyond what either had dreamed possible…The light of love…has also revealed a depth of emotion that defies any explanation of extent. It has cast the light of clarity on relations with other people important in their lives, redefining and deepening those relationships…

And we have tried to do just that, deepening relationships with friends and family. My friends, her friends, my family, her family. All of them ours. Together.

But there is something else. i chose to ask Maureen to marry me because i saw and felt a kindred spirit. i knew she loved me and i loved her and that would sustain us through hard times and even disagreements — and oh yes, we have had our share.

Reflecting on my life, i realize Maureen is the only woman who could still love me through all my shenanigans, my missteps, my hurts, and a thousand other things which would drive other women bonkers and away eventually, if not sooner.

Yes, i love my birthday woman. She is my refuge in a storm, my counselor in dark times. She has put up with listening to my rants, pontifications, declarations, disappointments.

She has been true.

And i have been true, true because i love her. i’m not sure i have been as wonderful in that love because i had to simply put up with her while she had to put up with me. i win on that one.

And you know what? i’m deliriously happy i will be living with her, loving with her, for the next millennium of her birthdays.

She’s a keeper.

Happy 66th Birthday, my love.