October 20th 1990...

Our marriage is a teenager
Fifteen to be exact
Not a childish fancy
Of playful boyhood dream
Not just a selfish storefront to sate my satisfaction
Or a blanket to bundle up in
Our marriage is a teenager
It used to be just twelve
When puberty came knocking
and really threatened it
new roles new goals
changes changes changes
stop
hoping that something would blossom
develop, bloom, mature
Our marriage is a teenager
Fifteen on this birthday
Its clothes fit differently now
a sense of something sensual
beyond the lovers caress
that draws into discovering
the adult marriage to come
Our marriage is a teenager
Some day it will be middle aged
And we’ll fondly gaze in memory
As we sexually pretend.
And giggle at our foolishness for trying one more time
To arouse the childish fury
Of lovers, loving love more than loving
Our marriage is a teenager
It’s starting to fill out
There’s hair in places where it wasn’t
Or is it the other way around
It’s not yet what it will be but the notions are not as vague
a river that has quit wondering if the ocean’s near
Our marriage is a teenager
Some day it will retire
and lay back in the hammock
and lick the tonic off the rim of love’s deep pleasant cup
and then it will be over
from kiss to sigh
to wait for the magic up above
But
Our marriage is a teenager
Fifteen to be exact.
So light the little candles
And make the slices thick
Happy birthday marriage.

I wrote this poem to honor not just my wonderful and gorgeous wife but the amazing gift God has given us to share this marriage.
I love you Char.