26 years ago...

Twenty six years ago today I married my high school

love, Ronald Riera (aka hunk of burning love)

He had asked me to marry him many times and

I had said no. He got tired of asking so he

left my parents home where we were both living.

He gave me two weeks to decide whether or not

I would marry him. If I decided I didn't want that

he was moving on. My first thoughts were,

"Good riddance, no body's gonna make me do

anything I don't want to."

Yet after two days without him I called

and begged him to come back, hence we

were engaged.

I knew from the very beginning it was going to be a rocky start.

Then Roddie came to us, against all odds and

my priorities changed, Ronnie's did not.

It was then that I realized we had a problem.

A year later, Ronnie entered a drug treatment program

and never looked back.

I wish I could say after that it was a fairy tale, that

everything was so perfect but really, the survival

of this marriage has been a 100% commitment of

the both of us. There were many times that the

two of us thought it was too much work that

to be without the other would be easier.

Yet we had made a promise to our marriage

and we continued on, working hard

to make this marriage work, something to fight for,

something that would give our two children

a place to look when wondering what a relationship

should look like.

Yes, it has been a strange little relationship

but a story about love and what commitment can do.

It is a story of taking vows seriously and

putting yourself aside for the betterment of a family.

There have been many storms in the last 26 years

but there have been more rainbows.

So we carry-on now that the kids are grown.

I love this man, even if he wears my clothes,

even if he constantly goes behind me to clean something,

even if he never puts my dishes where they belong,

even if he calls me 25 times a day....

I love him.

When people ask me how we did it

what can I say?

All I can think of is hard work and the love

of a good man.