A pearl of great price

Thirty years ago today.

Himself: “And to think they said it would never last.”

Herself: “That was us.”

• THIS JUST IN: Hey, whaddaya know: Three decades later, the clothes still fit!

And 50 percent of us is still hot!

51 thoughts on “A pearl of great price

  1. Congratulations and many more, Patrick and Shannon! Sometimes these things do work out really well, even if the house occasionally sounds like two cats in too small a space…..

    1. For those wondering where that phrase came from:

      Matthew 13:45–13:46

      45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:

      46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

  2. Happy Anniversary! Congratulations and here’s to another 30 years!

    Still in “pause” in NYS. Two regions in western NY will start to reopen soon. Still waiting for the maples leaves to unfurl. Spring is short in upstate NY.

    1. Yeah, but you get those beeeyootiful falls. My adult experience with New York is limited to a 1977 out-and-back from Greeley, Colo., to Burlington, Vt., with a stop in Wellsville to drop off a friend. I remember the country being stunning for a guy who’d been in the West and Southwest since age 8.

    2. Where in NYS do you live, Libby? I grew up just east of Buffalo, out in Town Line. Went to Rochester for college and out on Lawn Guyland (Stony Brook) for grad school. Got friends and relatives all over the Empire State.

      1. Hi Khal! I live in Albany county. I’m not too familiar with the western tier. A few visits over the years. I’m more familiar with the Hudson-Mohawk Valley/lower Adirondacks and Leatherstocking area.

  3. Congratulations 30 is a big number, seems like yesterday and sometimes forever but all in all not a bad experience. Coming up on No. 38 here, so there is hope and joy.

  4. Congrats PO’G and Herself!!! Many more to come, eh?!! My bride and I just passed 50 great years together last December…..I’ve been more than blessed!! 🙂

  5. She hasn’t changed a bit.. But you, well let’s just say that you better be lucky she felt sorry for you.

    All in jest.

    Please have a wonderful and safe Anniversary.

    Shawn

      1. I’ve heard it said that you wind up with the face you deserve. Mine is great for curdling milk, stopping clocks, and making freight trains take dirt roads. Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes all the way down to the bone.

        1. I can never figure out whether I am smiling or grimacing without checking. I put this selfie on my blog for Bike Month and then looked at it and said someone is going to respond “if this is what passes for fun, I’ll do something else and leave the infected saddle sores to that old coot”

  6. Congratulations & many more.

    We celebrated 32 years last February.

    Going into lock down, I was unsure how we’d cope with only each other for 24/7 but it’s actually been pleasant.

    1. Same back atcha, Hurben. I think it helps if both folks have interests that (a) coincide, and (2) don’t. So Herself and I both like to read, prepare meals, and ride bikes, and we do that stuff together. She likes to eBay and chat on the phone, and I like to write and wander off by myself to consult the voices in my head, and we do that separately.

      She’ll be delighted when she can get back to running around with her gal pals and checking out the estate sales. I think she misses the camaraderie of the office a bit, too. I mean, I’m all like Mr. Entertainment an’ shit — Just ask me! I’ll tell ya! — but it must be like watching the same sitcom over and over and over again.

      We also have a huge stockpile of private jokes amassed over the years. And now and then we do the Angry Corgi at each other to clear the air.

  7. Congrats on being with Shannon and having a friend (Chris) for 30 years! That is something to cherish and keep for sure. We went over 33 last November, and Sandy has let me live that whole time. When she was holding that pillow over my head last night, she said it was to filter out any viruses to save my life. It was a little hard to breathe.

    1. The charity of women never fails to amaze. Why they do not hunt us for meat and/or sport remains a mystery.

      Chris and I go back even further, to the Seventies. We were bros at the University of Northern Colorado in Greality and cut our journalistical teefers at the Gazette Telegraph in Bibleburg. He toddled off to make a name for himself in Santa Rosa, and I toddled off to make a fool of myself in a succession of places, a practice that continues to this very day.

  8. Congratulations to the both of you! Herself was a real beauty then, and she is a real beauty still.

    Patrick me boy, is that some sort of Kain-Tuck waterfall adorning your noggin? Let’s see a shot of it from behind (i.e., the “party” side), just to make sure. Regardless of your coiffure, you two make a beautiful couple!

    1. I clung to hair a lot longer than hair clung to me, that’s for sure. This afternoon we were trying to figure out when I said, “Aw, hell with it, cut it all off.” Probably when we moved to Weirdcliffe. I have a cropped do’ in a pic with Fuerte the Wonder Pooch as we enjoyed a view of the Sangre de Cristos from the Mad Dog Mountain Viewing Facility (a large rock just down the hill from our house).

  9. Anyone who’s willing to share photos of themselves from 30 years ago online has my knee-bending, sombrero-tipping accolades!!! Or maybe curiosity into their MadDoggedness (trademarked)? 🙂

    Well done Patrick and Herself!!!! THANK YOU!!!! CONGRATS!!!! 🙂

  10. Every Girl Crazy Bout A Sharp Dressed Man. Did your mother-in-law like you from the get-go or did it take a decade or two? And as for the private jokes-they’re the best. Never wear out.

  11. When they told us it wouldn’t last, they were talking about our hair!

    Congrats!

    Celebrating a dozen years of marital bliss. And if you factor in that we got married 22 years ago, we ain’t doing half bad!

  12. 39 years here. I’ve done lots and lots of really stupid shit, but marrying this woman was not one of them. She has literally saved my life three times.

  13. Also late, but congrats to you!! We’re at 31 and counting.

    Here’s a cheer for hair plugs, Rogaine, and Minoxydil to you, sir!

  14. Wow! Checking back on the 13th….
    Boy Howdy, you have added a helluva impressive and delightful photo post script! Congratulations again!

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