Anniversary

Posted byembrace-the-suck.blogPosted inUncategorized

May, 2021

Happy Anniversary St. Laurel, number 33 by my count. How you have put up with my countless deficiencies for this many years, plus nine and a half more, is beyond me. One of these days you will finally come to your senses. Until then I’m a happy guy.

We’ve been on so many great adventures together. Our month long honeymoon on a Eurail Pass, watching you leap at your first sight of the Eiffel Tower, was a dream. The trips we took to Japan and Croatia, from castles to cafes, I felt the joy of discovery in your eyes.

We backpacked the California coast and the High Sierra. We huddled as lightning flashed in front of us, shared the alpenglow that follows a rainstorm, and walked a high mountain meadow spotted with diamond tarns and rivulets that flow from snowmelt and spring. We spent three days at an unnamed lake near Isberg Pass in southeastern Yosemite where I fell completely in love with you.

We share the adventure of our extended families together. The wonderful trips to Wisconsin and Minnesota to visit all those wonderful Prevettis. And even New York for wild nights in the Village. You continually welcome my family into your life, from boisterous holidays to trips to Ireland. Most of all you brought us together for our greatest adventure, our unstoppable bundle of Katie when we became three.

And now we adventure through ALS Land. You give new meaning to “in sickness and in health”. Everyday you care for me my love for you multiplies. From waking me up in the morning to daily showers to managing the medical industrial complex to cuddling after your day is finally done, you are the smile that greets me whenever you glide into the room. When the second vaccination sent me to respiratory hell, you dropped everything to coordinate hospice resources and pharmacy runs so I could again breathe freely.

People say to me how amazed they are at my attitude in the face of the daily battles with this wretched disease. I wonder too, and then you come into the room for a cup of water, a quick snack, and you kiss me and I know. If people see in me joy and life, it is only because they see you in me.

Happy Anniversary St. Laurel.

24 thoughts on “Anniversary”

  1. Happy Anniversary you two love birds! We should all be so blessed to have such a loving, deep bond with loved ones. And, Bob, beautifully written! Hugs to you both. Love Yvonne and Tom

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  2. That is the sweetest tribute To your wife and the Love and Adventures you’ve shared over the years. You two truly sound like soulmates. You have been through a lot of adventures in this lifetime together and the love is still strong. Happy Annaversary you two! 💕

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  15. This was beautifully written. I was so touched by it. Thank you for sharing a story of true love no matter what the future may bring. Happy Anniversary, Laurel and Bob. Blessings to you both!

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  17. This is so beautiful. Happy anniversary Bob and Laurel! – Paul

    On Fri, May 21, 2021 at 4:21 PM Embrace The Suck wrote:

    > embrace-the-suck.blog posted: ” May, 2021 Happy Anniversary St. Laurel, > number 33 by my count. How you have put up with my countless deficiencies > for this many years, plus nine and a half more, is beyond me. One of these > days you will finally come to your senses. Until then I’m a ha” >

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  19. Thank you, Robert, for sharing the most beautiful of love letters. I cried all the way through reading it, and am still leaking tears as I write this. You two have had some wonderful adventures together, obviously making the most of the lives you have been given so far. I also wanted you to know how much I have enjoyed your humor (grim though it was at times) and all the thoughts and information you have been generous enough to share with all of us, giving us the privilege of window into your world. I confess my own physical miseries: broken patella in one knee, broken 10 yr. old replacement in the other, and a “sacroiliac joint dysfunction”; all combine to leave me in pretty constant pain (sometimes more sometimes less). I could wish the medical profession wasn’t so paranoid about opiates, because I couldn’t manage without them; but they are particularly careful with people like me who have a history with alcohol abuse. However, I’m eagerly awaiting Dr. apt. on June 1 when he will administer a heavy dose of cortisone in my back, which should go a long way to helping me be more comfortable. I am alone, with a walker and lifeline (when I fell the other day, and couldn’t use the knees; 2 nice firemen came and pulled me up), but I couldn’t manage without being surrounded, as I am, by marvelous neighbors and a host of good friends who check on me. There’s a volunteer car service I can use to get to whatever appointments I have (and now I’ve started Physical Therapy there are many more!); and though I have tried to teach Hamish at least to answer the phone, I have not been successful. Maybe I could smear it with his favorite dog food??????? Anyway, it’s One Day at a Time. Hamish is 15 (never had a Cairn live past 12!) and I will be here as long as he’s alive, though he has lost most of his sense of smell – particularly disorienting for a dog. Both the vet and my best friend (who’s a “dog whisperer”) say he would not survive a move; so……..who knows what the future holds. Finally, though I didn’t mean to bore you with all my physical problems that pale by comparison to the life you are living, I did want you to know how much your courage and sheer guts inspire me. Every time I feel like I can’t wait the next half hour for my pain pill, or find myself sinking deeply into the”slough of despond” (source is marvelous book: “The Phantom Tollbooth”), I think of you. And that if you can manage your life, as difficult as it surely is, then I can overcome my piddling miseries and quit feeling sorry for myself. It helps. So thank you. Please give my love to St. Laurel, and want to extend congratulations to you both on another anniversary of the wonderful, amazing journey your life together has been. With love, Aunt Karen

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  20. From the first time I saw you two together, way back at Berkeley, I knew you two would be in love forever. This brought tears to my eyes. Happy Anniversary, you crazy kids.

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  21. Happy anniversary Bob and Laurel
    Bob- That was the most beautiful
    Anniversary love story 💕you wrote
    🍷🍷Cheers!! Love you both😘

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  23. Happy anniversary to you both! Bob, that was one of the most touching tributes to love I can remember reading in a long time. Beautifully said.
    Cheers!

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