Today my friend Jeanette added a photo to Facebook.  It was taken 20 years ago at her wedding:

I am Puffy Sleeves #3 and #4 to the right of the bride, and Clark is the guy behind me who used to have hair.

This photo captures the day – 20 year ago – that Clark and I became a couple.  Dave and Jeanette matched us up as a groomsman and bridesmaid in their wedding, and it sorta worked.  In this photo I was most likely suppressing a giggle at some inappropriate comment he was whispering into my ear.  Fast forward a few hours and he was schmoozing my parents at the reception.  Fast forward a few more hours and he was successfully schmoozing me on the dance floor.  (I’d deny it if there wasn’t video evidence.)

Our wedding anniversary now eclipses this milestone, but today still marks our first twenty years of togetherness:

3 years of dating in Nebraska + 5 years living together in Alaska + 2 years of marriage with dogs + 10 years of marriage with children = 20 years of joy!!

(Okay, mostly joy.)

Tonight we celebrated with a special dinner on our deck.  Clark’s moose butchering table dressed up nicely with a tablecloth and kitchen chairs, and we even broke out the stemware!  (I’d have taken more pictures, but the mosquitoes drove us indoors within minutes.  It was a valiant effort on all parts, but this year’s spring mosquitoes are especially vicious!)

The sun doesn’t set until after 10 PM these days, so maybe dessert on the deck would have been more romantic and less buggy?  Even if we spend the next 20 years in this home, this view will never get old:

The rare, precious moments with our Nebraska friends (like Dave and Jeanette) will never get old either.  We miss them dearly!  Maybe someday we can have a reunion with them here, on this very deck.  What a dream that would be!

For today we must celebrate from a distance…

So here’s to Dave and Jeanette:  We are sending you love, congratulations, and, above all, gratitude… for without you, there may never have been an us!

The next time we are together, we shall raise our glasses and say cheers to the next 20 years!