Happy Anniversary, Baby!

It was 1986. She was twenty three, I was thirty three. We had both seen and heard about each other for months. We actually met while working on the scenery, designed by my dad, for the Vero Beach Theatre Guild production of Damn Yankees. She had already become friends with my dad while I was rehearsing my two roles in the "men-intensive" baseball musical comedy.

I was an actor who worked on scenery, a rare bird in theatre. She was in charge of the scene shifts- there were seventeen of them- and I was the only actor certified on scene shifting. We fell in love backstage. Six months later we were married. My promise to her: the road will get bumpy, but life with me will never be boring." I believe I've kept that promise.

Our first adventure was moving to St. Cloud, Florida, starting fresh in a new place. I started working in show business, and she invented a new kind of law firm. We joined the Unitarian Universalist church in Orlando, where I became a rising star in the choir, in church plays, designing and building wacky party decor, and doing a dozen or so highly entertaining Sunday services. She was backstage, subconsciously working on a coup.

Today, after four years of seminary in Massachusetts, she's onstage in Albuquerque, and I'm backstage, pack-muling, photographing, researching, printing, publishing, fabricating in support of her role as a rising star in the Unitarian Universalist Association.

We have both had many great moments on our respective stages over the past twenty three years. Everything we do we do together in some way- support, reflection, allowing space. I wouldn't trade a minute of our fascinating journey together.