Today (February 7) is the 51st anniversary of the first time I told my wife Denise that I loved her. She was a freshman and I was a junior at Duke. The occasion was a sorority dance held at the American Legion Post number 7 in Durham, NC. My heart has never beat so fast since. I was terrified that she would burst out laughing and mutter, “You can’t be serious.” But she didn’t laugh. She held my hand and kissed me.
51 years!! Wow. My reaction is a complex mix of love (she is everything to me), disbelief (where did the time go), pride (proud of all that we have done together), hope (I hope we have many more anniversaries to come) and a twinge of sadness (while there may be many more anniversaries to come it is unlikely that there are 51 more to come).
There were a couple of times in the early years when I thought that she would realize that committing me was a mistake. As an example.
Early in our relationship, Denise and I went skiing in the mountains of West Virginia. I was trying to impress her that she was going out with a happenin guy.
While on the ski lift, I told her that my feet were killing me. Turns out I had my ski boots on the wrong feet. I thought the buckles should be on the inside of the ankles not the outside.
I think I lost 15,000 “smooth, cosmopolitan guy points” that day. I am not sure why she didn’t conclude that she couldn’t risk passing on my genetic material to her kids.
February 7 and American Legion Post number 7. She and I have added to the prominent nature of the number 7. There are 7 wonders of the world, days of creation, heavens in Islam and Judaism, Harry Potter books, primary Chakras in Hinduism, colors in the rainbow, musical notes, and continents. To cap it off, James Bond’s number is 007.
In this post you will see a picture of the two us ready to head out to the sorority dance and a picture taken 50 years later during a vacation to Scotland.
Theis post contains a picture of the Durham American Legion Post number 7. I am sure that there is a shrine inside that commemorates the first time I told her that I loved her.