For 20 years

In mid-March Byron and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary -- 24 years together, really.  It seems like a long time when I think of all our adventures . . . how many places we've lived . . . how many gardens we've planted . . . degrees we've worked on . . . how many wrinkles we seem to now have around our eyes.  But it's been much like the blink of an eye, too.  I feel super lucky to be in this adventure of life with such an incredible person by my side.

One of the things I most admire about Byron is his persistence, or actually more like his obsession, with whatever it is he's into.  Since the fall, among other things, it's been the ukulele.  Byron has essentially taught himself to play with the aid of online tutorials and music in just a few short weeks.  It's impressive.  On any given night you can hear Byron playing his bright red dolphin ukulele while he hangs out with Wyatt during his bath.  If we are watching tv, he'll practice during commercials.  Often if I'm reading or watching tv in the living room, Byron will be camped out in the bedroom strumming and practicing cord progressions on new songs.  Oh, and humming. 

Honestly, I find this habit to be one of the most endearing things about this man.  He has always been a hummer.  Long before the ukulele came along he hummed.  As I remember, his mother hummed too so he comes by it honestly.  In any case, he hums along with his playing now.  And that means I get great ukulele-humming renditions of everything from "Let it Be" and "America the Beautiful" to "Hotel California" and the other night it was something by ABBA. Sometimes these concerts go one for quite a while.  As I said, he's persistent.