Yesterday Karen and I along with our two sons went to dinner at a local Italian restaurant. Our timing was good as we dined at the exact hour that Karen and I met at another Italian joint in Atlanta 25 years ago.
Anyone who knows me around here is well aware that Karen is the finest and greatest thing to ever happen in my life. She's my best friend, my buddy, my pal, my lover.....She is strong, intelligent, empathic, and everyone who knows her thinks she's great as well. Most of them also wonder what the hell she's doing with me!
I was 36 when I met her and had long since quit thinking of marriage or any long term relationship and yet within 20 minutes I knew I would marry her if she'd have me. James Dickey once wrote about one of his characters meeting his wife and it was almost exactly what it was like for me. I saw somewhere deep in Karen a flame, small but intense and I knew immediately it was that flame I had always wanted to see and never had. When I saw it, I married it. I don't know what that flame is, but I still see it now, brighter and more intense than ever these 25 years later.