It’s another hot August day – but not just any day. It is the 294th anniversary (24.5 years since 1999) of the first “date” with my current wife. It was actually more of a business meeting, since we worked together at WISH-TV, but it ultimately led to other things. We didn’t get married for another two years, but it was the beginning of our “love streak” of now 8,947 days (the running streak is only 5,336 days). I can’t help it – I like to count days!

It was not love at first sight since I had known her since working in Fort Wayne back in the mid-eighties. My first marriage was falling apart after 27-years, so I was vulnerable, and moved out on my own soon after. It’s impossible to explain the how’s and why’s these things happen, but in simple terms I fell in love again. I do not regret the circumstances. It’s what we like to call a re-do. 

The meeting took place on an 8th at Eddy’s, a restaurant near Geist Reservoir in Indianapolis. It still exists today, and we’ve eaten there several times since. Every 8th of the month, we celebrate this union that led to marriage on 4/20/2001. In the course of our romance, there is our wedding anniversary, and then these monthly occasions that I like to call our “Eddiversary” or “Eightiversary.” (See Post #1768).

I crudely drew a series of three calendars that highlight the early days of our relationship. We had them framed to display privately on our master bathroom wall. This way I can create an anniversary out of essentially everything we did together. From that point on, I then kept a written diary of nearly every day together. It exists on my computer, so I continue to update it. Poems and other memories are kept both on the computer and in notebooks on my office shelves. There are also poems to her hidden in the gifted Limoges Boxes that make up her collection. In these many ways, my love for her is forever preserved. 

Eight is the date,

When our love sparked.

Every month since,

Is carefully marked.

 

Calendars, Diaries,

And poems like this.

Last much longer,

Than a kiss. 

 

It started at Eddy’s, 

Grown every day since.

Like every great fortune,

It started with a cent.

 

Now it is priceless, 

Memories preserved. 

A life together,

That we both deserved. 

 

We call it a re-do,

But it’s so much more. 

A tribute to the woman,

That I adore. 

 

An annual celebration,

Just wasn’t ample. 

But daily reminders, 

A better example. 

 

The 8th is special, 

Jan thru December. 

Though Every single day, 

Together, I remember.

 

Can’t say it enough, 

That “I Love You.” 

Happy Half Eddiversary,

Let’s start today anew! 

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