Here's to "I Do! I Do!"

Straw Hat Players.  Moorhead State College (pre-university status!).  Summer, 1971.  Little Billy was in need of 16 credits to graduate.  Four had to be analysis of science.  (Can you say bachelor of science degree?).  The other 12 came from two sessions of Straw Hat Theatre.  My main claim to fame was my role as Ruckley in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".  I was the inmate with the lobotomy.  Type-casting was obviously alive and well.  Anyhoo, (surprise of surprises) I digress.  That summer we put on "I Do!  I Do!".  It's an amazing two-character show with stunningly accurate songs.  It's the songs that drive the blog.  You see, this coming Sunday, my bride and I will have been married 40 years.  "There's a strange new world that you enter when you say "I Do!"  And a new world it has been...one filled with joy, with laughter, with shared experiences.  "I love my wife."  I do try to tell her that but I'm not sure you can ever say it enough.  Sometimes I ask myself "Who's that racy middle aged lady?"  Thankfully, the answer is not "That's flaming Agnes!"  "Sometimes in the evening, when shadows are deep..." I realize how much I appreciate that fact that she has been willing to sign up for another five years.  Let me explain.  We made an agreement to renew our commitment every five years, and to this point, thank god, she has acceded!  Now I understand this probably doesn't say much for her sanity, but it has kept mine!  That particular lyric ends with "my cup runneth over with love!"  And it does!  Then of course, there's the song that was actually sung at our wedding.  "A man and a woman are meant for each other are meant for each other as husband and wife.  From this moment forward I promise to love thee, I promise to love thee the rest of my life.  Together, forever.  Forever together.  For this is the promise I keep.  Together forever, forever together, through all of our sorrows and happiness.  Together as long as we live."  And while there are no words that can measure the love I have for her, suffice it to say she still is the reason I get up in the morning, smile during the day, and look forward each evening to another day together...forever!  Who says life is grand?  "I Do!  I Do!"