Hallmark Days

It's a crisp refreshing morning in Detroit. The weather has finally changed, the humidity has taken a hike elsewhere, and I'm hearing neighborly noise I haven't heard all summer. Everyone has their windows open and the a/c off. The woman across the street is playing jazz that I hear between sounds of the vacuum and laughter. My next door neighbors are having a chat about garden plans in the backyard, and the dog on the corner the next street over is yapping.

It's glorious out there today. The high will be 80 degrees with a humidity too low to be mentioned.

It wasn't like that 23 years ago when I stood in a sweltering church in a long sleeved wedding gown and said, "I do." It was hot, hot, hot. And don't forget Hot's friend, Humid. Talk about wilted, I was.

Twenty three years doesn't seem like a long time, but with the challenges we've had raising our youngest, there have been times when it's seemed longer. We persevered though, which is more than I can say for many of the couples we know in the same situation. Marriages are often casualties in the families of children with special needs. I think I can attribute our success to my husband's sense of humor. It's pulled us through incredible difficulties and helped us survive the rough times.

Even if the long sleeved wedding gown was a mistake that day, saying, I do, was not.