Today, Janis and I celebrated our forty-sixth wedding anniversary. We enjoyed takeout Chinese food, surrounded by our kids and grandkids. Dinner was joyous and noisy - as always. My special gift to Janis was a giant bag of fresh peas in the shell (her favourite). Janis gifted me with a delicious bag of fresh cherries (my favourite). As we enjoyed dinner we were asked about the secret to staying in love and together for all these years. The answer was easy. We remembered our vows, said so very long ago. We had solemnly promised to have and to hold each other, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part. We’ve always remembered to love each other - even if there were occasions where we didn’t like each other much.

We first began dating in high school, when I was seventeen and Janis was sixteen. We fell deeply in love and could hardly wait to be married a few years later. Our secret word is ‘ALWAYS’. Nothing (and everything) has changed since we said our vows. We’ve gone through good times and bad, rich and poor, mostly healthy, but sometimes not. It hasn’t always been easy but it has always, ALWAYS been worth the effort. We still love and cherish each other and hopefully we’ll be around for quite some time to come to continue this delightful journey together.