th,th,th,thirty eight

Yup, that's how long me and Mary Patricia Brown have been married. Tonight we're going to celebrate with some good food and listen to some home made music and we'll even do it on the right night. You see we celebrated our anniversary on March 5th for about 35 years and low and behold...we were wrong. I guess that the two of us were so overwhelmed with the idea of a entire life together that we just forgot. We were going to get married in the Catholic Church of course but after we did the ' how to be happy' class given by a Priest we were then told about the waiting period and you know me.... I don't wait so good. So here's a pic of us in my folks living room, that would be my dad next to my bride.

I was a little hinky with the whole deal and my mom wanted the house to be just right so I went fishing that morning, no kidding. I did manage to track in a bunch of  Montana mud but as you can see from the next pic we got er done. I look a little relieved as MPeasy and I share big R afterwards. She still looks at me that way to this day.....usually followed by a " what were you thinking "!!!!

After we decided to give the Catholic Church the hook we asked our friend Bill Hunt to marry us. We used some of the vows that his son Joe had used and I made up a little poem.  I do believe that the moe-joe that came from Bill Hunt added to our future. He was a 20 year member of the Montana Supreme Court as well as a WW 2 hero and just one of the smartest, neatest , liberal thinkers anybody has ever met. He died just last week so I have to tell you Bill, Mary, Jim, Billy, Kate Pat and Joe...we love and have loved you all, thanks for the wonderful friendship. Here's a pic of MP with Bill and Mary.

Here's a pic of the line-up at the apre wedding event ( in the basement) . The guy with the big hair talking politics on the left is my big brother Jack. Of course my dad is always around the beer and MP next to Tom Hanson who sang Color my World for us, ya know you can't get married back then without Color my World . Then we have my best buddies Curt and Beno with his wife Jan who is his wife no longer....little bit of that with this married deal eh ? As you can see we've moved on to the PBR, or maybe they just weren't Rainer guys like me, I don't know.

There's a few things in life I'm really good at and love is one of them...and after all , that is really all marriage is eh ? It ain't complicated, it's just love. So I think I'll do one of those lists that I like so much of the keys to love ...at least for me and MP. I 'll kinda gear to the guys and of course it ain't no primer on how to stay married it's just a few of the things that have worked for us...

1. Move... I'm convinced that Alaska helped make us what we are, happy. Ya know if we'd stayed in Montana around all the old ways and all the old habits and all the old....well, there's a country song that says " you're always 17 in your hometown '....it's true, when you move, you're 'all in' as the poker players say.

2. Be poor... That's goes right down the alley with #1...If ya don't wanna be poor ya gotta work. Work = respect = appreciation = mutual support which = 38 years...but being poor gives you the 'baseline' data you need for a life of love.....

3. Code of the West....you know me I preach it all the time and with friends and associates it's hard to attain but with MP it's always job 1. Not only do you support and nurture, you protect....always. MP ain't perfect, none of us are...but I'm the only one that gets to say that. You hurt her, you hurt me, it's simple.

4.Scrabble...

5. Separate toothbrushes....but you can share in a jam

6. Movies....it's one of the things we do a lot. I guess you could call it a 'date night' . We love the big screen and we love to talk of the story line just as we do with books we read...and every now and then you'll see a movie like Jerry McGuire and oh baby, we're learning love.

7. Dishes...when Max left Alaska following love I told him that a key to happiness is dishes, do dishes.

8. Explore...New things, new places , new friends , new ideas , new projects...take the lead and don't be scaredy chicken...Even when you find things you might not like or even get hurt by people....you do it together and you learn why you're in love .

9. Passion for....things and interests . It's easier to be proud of and share each others lives when you know it's 100 %...For me it's the fishing, the music, MP...for her it's the art, the Flowers, her family, it's all 100 %, no cutting corners.

10. Shower together.....yup, I scratch your back, you scratch mine.

11. FRIDAY....I don't why, maybe it goes back to my working with the tools days but Friday is always a special day, a day to celebrate. I cook a nice Steak, a little Chardonnay, a fire in fireplace, we re cap events and maybe.....play scrabble.

12. Kids... that's a biggy....nothing in the world makes you a better person more than having kids. Once you have kids, gone is selfishness and greed and I think people notice, I know MP did.....It's really what life is all about I'd say and that comes from the love and commitment of marriage. In all parts of life I never trust people in any decision making processes that don't have kids...

13, Dog....MP told me one time that ol Jet-Dog made me a better person....I don't know what it says about a guy that needs a dog to become a better person ...but ...I'll take it.  We shared a love for that animal me and MP did..a little like the kids I suppose.

14. Two Newspapers...makes those sometimes difficult first few minutes of the day easier. Got coffee, got your own paper....duck soup.

Well, I could go on and on but I figure this might start sounding like a lecture and nobody needs that, besides that I'm not telling any of you anything that you don't know. So I'll leave this deal with one more pic of me and MP on our wedding night and I'll say this, no, I'll shout this....I love you MP , I loved you that night 38 years ago but I really, really, really love you now, now that I've learned how.