7 Years of Love and Laughter

Today Vitaliy and I are celebrating our 7 year wedding anniversary.

The other night I was flipping through the latest Real Simple magazine and came across a spread titled Live Long and Prosper. Each person being interviewed were 100 years or older. They were giving their advice on aging gracefully. One gentleman’s response stood out to me amongst the rest. In his photo, he sits looking completely relaxed with the biggest grin on his face. At first glance you don’t notice it because the image is black and white, but sitting right above his smile is a beautiful white mustache perfectly groomed.

This is his answer as to how he made it to be 100:

“I think I’ve lived so long and been so healthy because I worked so hard. I was an electrician until I was 80, and I have stayed busy since my retirement, going to ball games, movies, the theater, and the opera. My wife, Bertie, and I just celebrated our 80th wedding anniversary, and she does all these activities with me – she’s 102. She still looks wonderful. We hold hands and enjoy our life together very much.”

I thought to myself, if Vitaliy still thinks I look wonderful after 80 years of marriage, if he still wants to hold my hand and go on dates with me, I will be a blessed woman. But right now, we are at 7 years, not 80, and he still thinks I look wonderful and he still grabs my hand to hold every day. For that I am thankful. And I consider myself blessed.

This is one of my favorite pictures from our trip to Ukraine. It was taken by our brother-in-law Vasily in Chernivtsi, Vitaliy’s hometown and the place where I fell even more in love with my husband.