Monday, November 8, 2010

The First Date

According to Facebook, I have 143 friends. On November 8th, 45 years ago, I had a first date with one of them. A shy, attractive blond by the name of Vicki Philo was celebrating her birthday. How this beauty from Perrysburg ended up with a Slovak kid from East Toledo can be linked to mutual friends, to them I am forever grateful.

Luck and blessings have been a part of my life. Luck came in the form of the number 13. Vicki and I were engaged on the 13th of one month, and married on Friday the 13th of another month. Ted, our first born, arrived on August 13th. And, of course the people at TV13 put up with me for 20 years.

She is the pinnacle of my blessings and perfection personified. We all experience flawed moments in our lives. With Vicki and I even some of those moments produced indelible memories or tear-producing laughter. Stories of "flying garbage", "green potatoes", and "toilet maintenance", will remain only with us. But the impact of those moments are small compared to the blessings of three children, a loving partnership, and the enlightened realization that the Lord designed someone just for me.

November 8th, 1965 will always be more memorable than our anniversary. On this day I met the rest of my life. 16,436 days later, she is still my best friend, financial advisor, confidant, and partner. With the help of some Paul McCartney music, the following video simply says, "And I Love Her".