love is in the air

Valentine's Day tomorrow; Bob and I will be off for a few days R&R.  The middle of February wasn't exactly the warmest time of year to get married; we celebrated in Wales one year, probably the coldest anniversary I will ever spend!  But I will never forget driving up a forested hill, a winding, picturesque creek to our right, then topping that bend, finding black slate all along the other side.  Northern Wales is known for that rock, and somewhere around here I have a coaster to prove it.

This year we're travelling to SoCal to see Thea, maybe hit the beach.  Not quite frigid Welsh temps, but still winter (it's actually raining right now, dude!).  But when young and in love, Valentine nuptials seem a most apropos occasion.  I was twenty-one and deeply aware I'd met my one and only.  If it was a little blowy and brisk out, so what?

Fresh, as they say in Yorkshire, and yes, that day was rather fresh, sunny, perfect.  Marrying that man was truly perfect, perhaps why I'm so enthralled in assisting with Thea and Brian's plans, maybe why all my novels are love stories at heart.  For nearly a quarter century, I've been blessed with the most generous, adoring spouse; he makes my heart sing, he answers all my questions.  He's Graeme Liddle if a Yorkshireman, Kell Vander Kellen at his most faithful, Gray Burnett as my defender.  He's Dan Bailey in concern, Alvin Harris in understanding me, Sam Cassel in perseverance.  He's Bill Dillion looking out for my well-being and Cade Walton coming through time and space.  Bob came north from SoCal, which is like travelling through universes.  He found me, then married me, completed me.  What more needs to be said?

On that note, I wish you all a fantastic week.  If you get bored with the above links, check out these performances by the incomparable Whitney Houston.  I'm not a Whitney fan per se, but as a sometimes singer, as a mother, and as a music lover, her voice was stunning, her life bittersweet.  (I used Whitney's version of "I Will Always Love You" alongside the original by Dolly Parton in one of my early novels)  Again proof that life is short, gifts are precious.  Bob is one of my biggest, so off I go to celebrate the most incredible joy of my corporeal existence.  Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!