I would like to tell you a story. It is really more than a story, but about the beginning of a very important journey. It is one that I have told you about off and on over many years and if you have listened you know it is about love. Sit quietly while I tell about two who became one and love through today after twenty years.

She was beautiful. My first thoughts characterized her as a “minx”. Her sultry eyes beckoned me to follow and being the idiot I was in youth, I did not hear the cry. Yet she continued to pursue and I eventually woke to something that would change my life forever.

A young secretary and retail clerk she was and I a simple security officer. We soon dated and found that we had much in common, but most importantly immediate undeniable love. Young and hungry for each other, our trip toward matrimony was a quick one. Three, then four weeks past and I knew that she was the one. Yes, the one.

It was love that made me do it. I popped the question in the fifth week of our whirlwind relationship and was granted a yes. Ah, but youth, it is a quandary where matters of the heart are concerned. Typical of young men, stupidity seemed to reign supreme.

Fright filled me to the point of doubt and the result was but a four week engagement. We parted over stupidity as I said above. Not hers, but mine.

For months the relationship was on and then off, a fight with each. Someone must have been looking over us however, for the love we felt remained. Tumultuous was the characterization of our bond and at times we wondered, together and alone, whether or not we would come to be the one we were designed to be.

Together and alone, it began there I think. Two becoming one as the fight to remain one took hold of the hearts of the two involved. The result? Certainly growth and maybe a lot of understanding.

Months, I said, and months it was until a moment came where love could no longer be denied. Our call became, in just one moment, the vindication of love neglected. Matrimony arrived firmly on the horizon and would not be quelled by any means of the past.

She was beautiful as I have already said and say again today. I say it over and over with everyday knowing it fact and remember that I am the most fortunate of men. I was not just luckiest guy to ever find love, but the only guy to find it permanent with her. No, it is well beyond anything the world might equate to “lucky”. We chose each other to love and that demands luck stand aside.

Love is still present, more so, as it has grown with every happy and joyous moment, even in those times when trouble seems master. But command, it cannot for love truly does conquer all. Weakness strengthened as we hold each other tight through all times up or down. Lift, we struggle to do it in every waking moment, helping the other reach and achieve what we desire for ourselves and one another.

For me, she is my life. Without question there can be no other. I adore her with all my heart, mind, soul, and body. To me she is love. God only and alone stands higher than she in my sight. Blessed by Him in having her at my side He has made me the man that I came to be through the love He grants through her for my sake.

No poem can communicate. No image can illustrate. Only love can demonstrate my desires and hopes for her. She chose me twenty years ago, an unworthy man in youth, and I thank God daily for it. I live to love and care for her, the woman who twenty years ago said “I do”, and with that all quandaries regarding hope are seamlessly resolved.

Yes, that is my story. It is about love so unique and special it is difficult to tell, because no one can really know the heart of the matter outside of the two made one. Especially after twenty. I hope you see it for what it is. A love story at twenty continuing beyond the next twenty and a new knowledge that love truly conquers it all.

To Rhonda,

I love you with all my heart. You are my life and bring me hope moment by moment. We celebrate today twenty years of marriage and I look to the next twenty as we build upon the love we already share with each other. Thank you for choosing me and know that I choose you again and again daily.

I Love You,

Mike