Our 22nd Anniversary

I can't believe so many years have passed since that engagement picture was taken

22 years ago.

It's the most gorgeous picture EVER taken of us.

Steven Gotts was the photographer who shot publicity photos for the TV station where I worked.

He is a genius with lighting and posing.

I hired him to take our engagment photo, and he wanted to shoot it in black and white.

Steven's make-up artist scared me as she started to apply white foundation to my dark complexion...I mean WHITE!

She explained that tanned skin looks gray or muddy in black and white photography.

She then used a dark brown foundation to contour my cheeks and eyes.

Even my lips were brown.

Mark was aghast when he saw me. We laughed and laughed, but she whited his face, too.

"We're either going to look awesome or like freaky clowns!" I teased,

as Steven snapped away.

We were flabbergasted at the results...we looked like movie stars.

It's true, we had stars in our eyes.

I was almost 29 when I finally met my true love.

I don't even drink, but my co-workers dragged me to a new bar one evening after work and declared I was going to meet a man that night.

We scanned every guy who entered and my girlfriends made cat calls to attract a few over. They didn't need to. We had two blondes at our table.  It's true! Blondes are man-magnets in bars. They seem to glow in the dark or it's too dark to see brunettes.

Anyway, my girlfriends were RIGHT! I did meet a man that night and when he picked me up for our first date, I opened the door and sucked in a huge breath...

 I thought, "He's the most handsome man I've ever seen in my life!"

My heart fluttered wildly.

I had often wondered if I would recognize love when it happened.

After dating for many years, I never felt that spark...whatever that meant.

I wondered if I was capable of falling in love.

Obviously, I was waiting for Mark to come along. He was the sweetest and cutest man on earth.

I felt at total ease with him...like I'd known him all along.

Best of all we

LAUGHED AT THE SAME THING...ALL THE TIME!

He swept me off my feet.

Just being with him made me happy.

We never wanted to be apart.

I finally understood the SPARK!

We married when I was 31

with his three sisters and my three brothers, sister and loving friends surrounding us.

We loved our honeymoon in Hawaii.

I saved many paychecks for that flash of paradise.

And the very next year, we welcomed baby Lindsay.

We had a total blast with her even though we were stuffed in our tiny apartment.

We called it our "Love Nest".

Two years later, we welcomed

Baby Mark...

Our family was finally complete.

The next twenty years zoomed by with hills and thrills and spills.

We can't believe how fast the kids grew up right before our very eyes.

We LOVED being parents,

and husband and wife.

This morning, we tried to recreate our engagement picture.

We snuggled together and I had Mark stretch out his arm with the camera hoping to capture us.

A few less hairs on his head...a few extra pounds on me.

We sure could use that makeup artist now!

But I don't care how we look.

Every night, when my husband walks through the door.

He still smiles, and

my heart still flutters.

We're still in the "Happily Ever After" stage...