How Does It Feel?

San Geraldo had been up for a couple of hours when I got out of bed yesterday morning. He greeted me with a hug and a kiss when we met in the hall.

"Good morning, sunshine," he said with his eyes aglow. "So, how do you feel on your last day of 57?"

I tilted my head down and looked into his eyes reprovingly.

"Gerald," I said (he knows he's in trouble when I say Gerald), "Tomorrow is not my birthday. It's our AN-NI-VER-SA-RY."

It's the third time he's gotten it wrong in the last three weeks. He almost had a panic attack one day when he thought he had already missed my birthday. I'm thankfully unconcerned about his memory. Everything else appears to be working just fine (and he's done this for years). Besides, maybe it's not so bad that he thinks today is all about me.

1955 — BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, AND SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA

So, today is our anniversary (my birthday was exactly two months ago and it was very nice). San Geraldo (the Addle-Pated) and I have been together for 31 — unbelievably full, rich, challenging, joy-filled, love-filled, emotional, high, low, rarely inactive, rarely boring, often comical — years. It doesn't feel like 31 years. I don't know what it feels like exactly — a bit like only yesterday and a bit like forever — but I never imagined when we met that this is where I would be 31 years later. Really, I never imagined being anywhere 31 years later. So I certainly never imagined being gray and progressively balder. I know San Geraldo never imagined being quite so... robusto. But, I also never imagined I could be so much in love with anyone. So here's wishing San Geraldo, the love of my life — my muse, my shoulder to lean on, my someone-who-needs-me-too-much and vice versa, and my comic relief — a very happy anniversary! I've shared below photos of us in just a few of the places we've lived and visited over the last 31 years. It's anyone's guess what's next. But, I do know that wherever San Geraldo is, well, that's home!

1982 — ON THE ROAD IN SOUTH DAKOTA
(WHILE LIVING IN BOSTON)

1983 — GRAND CANYON, ARIZONA
(WHILE LIVING IN MARINA DEL REY, CALIFORNIA)

1985 — BICYCLING TO MOUNT VERNON, VIRGINIA
(WHILE LIVING IN WASHINGTON, DC)

1990 — HOME IN GUILFORD, CONNECTICUT

1998 — BERGEN, NORWAY
(WHILE LIVING IN SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA)

1999 — HOME IN SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

2002 — HOME IN PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA

2004 — HOME IN SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA

2012 — HOME IN SEVILLA, SPAIN