...when did this happen...

 Do you remember when we were 18 and 19 and thought we had it all figured out? Or when we turned 30...and to our amazement we were still the same people we had been in our 20's...we didn't all of the sudden become "wise". Then the 40's came and the grands started coming...but we still felt like the same people...I know by the time I was in my 40's I finally was able to like myself a little...here we are...or should I say you are at 60...and still I look at you and see that crazy country boy I fell in love with!!! 

I thought you were the strongest thing I'd ever seen...and you had a hairy chest just like Starsky on Starsky and Hutch...you knew how to laugh like I'd never experienced before...I would learn later...that yes you have a great sense of humor...but more than that you have a joy from the LORD that impacts you life like crazy...you had a really cool pickup and I loved sitting next to you...I even loved riding the motorcycle with you to grandma Lambs!!! I can still see you sitting at our table in our first home...with your first birthday cake I ever made you...with one large tapered candle on it cause that's all we had...I remember the look on your face as you held each of the kids for the first time...the look on your face when you got that boy...then the look when you realized he really didn't like you that first year...but then I remember the smirk on your face as you 2 would head out to Conway knowing he was going to get gatorade and chips for breakfast...or the time Katie asked you if girls could be truckdrivers too...or the look on your face the morning you woke Cassie up for her wedding day...or the day Heather finally convinced you she WAS having twins...

So here we are...you at 60 and me close on your heels...and I see the same man...but with more joy than before...who loves our kids and grandkids like crazy and will play with the grands and then pay for that for days later...and who makes me feel...safe...protected...cherished and loved...

I pray today is as special as you are...I love you so very much...

~beth