I Do, Again, and Again

Last week Joanne and I celebrated sixty-one years of “I do’s.”  Included in those sixty-one were a few “I dang sure do” years as well as a few “I don’t know why, I just do” years. Then there were the “Rinky dinky do” years and the “Doodle de, do, da” years,” and a few “Whoop de dos.”  Throw in a “Why do You stand afar off” years (Psalm 10:1).  The early years of marriage were the “I do” what she says years.  The years when we had babies in the house were the “Do not rest day or night” years” (Revelation 4:8).  Then there were the teen-agers in the house years – better known as the “for richer or poorer” years. Finally, we made it to the “empty nest” years – with a question – “If this nest is empty, who owns all this stuff left behind.” Then the long awaited, middle adult years, when we realized the wedding vow, “to have and to hold” meant both accused the other of snoring.  Finally, we hit the grandparent and great grandparent years.  With the question, “Why didn’t we have these first”? And now, the golden years and we still do.  To paraphrase the poet, Robert Browning, “Grow old along with me . . . and  let’s see what all Medicare covers.”  Happy sixty-first, Joanne. Sixty-two? I do. I do. I do.