On tenth anniversaries

A tenth wedding anniversary is something to celebrate, especially nowadays, with the divorce rate about 50 percent. Depending on which Web site you believe, the tenth anniversary may be celebrated with tin or aluminum for traditionalists, or with diamonds for the modern gift-giver. Guess which one most people want?
My tenth anniversary will come along in October, just 2 days after my husband's 42nd birthday. I didn't deliberately set my wedding date then so my hubby could remember it. I set it for that day because I wanted to get married in the fall and that was one day when both my state's Division I football teams were playing out of state. Yes, it matters in my family.
Actually, my wedding was one of six I attended that summer and fall, and five of them were within about seven weeks of each other. The stats were kind to those getting married that year: only one divorce. The rest of those couples are still happily married. I missed a Dirt Band show to attend my cousin's wedding. Had we both known how things turned out, we probably would have skipped the ceremony and gone to the concert.
Call it a belated Valentine or an early anniversary present, but I have been incredibly happy with my husband. Somehow, through the most unlikely series of events, we found each other. I was convinced that I would probably never find anyone. Who wanted me: weird, overweight, over-intelligent, etc? Well, Mike wanted me. I still wonder why, sometimes, but I do strive to be the best wife I can be to him. We were friends first, and found a comfortable companionship that nurtures and sustains both of us. Mike is over-intelligent, a little strange, tender, romantic... I could go on. When I am with him, I am at my best. He sees me for the woman I truly am. He is, without doubt, the most precious human in my life. I cannot imagine my life without his warmth, his humor, his "him-ness."
Mike is a blessing from the Lord that I never hoped to have. God has been so incredibly good to me in my choice of husbands. I am resolved to make my marriage as happy as it can be, in gratitude for the gift I have received.
If this is sappy, so what? I don't care. My dear husband has been everything to me that anyone could possibly want in a spouse. He's not perfect, but who is? I'm certainly not!
So Mike, I love you and cherish all that you are to me. The best part of my day is walking in the door and seeing you. Here's to many, many more decades together.