On August 19th, 1989, the girl of my dreams walked down the aisle and stood beside me. Tonight, 25 years later, the woman of my dreams will walk through the door of our home and stand beside me once again. As has happened every evening since, there will be no best man, nor maid of honor. No rows of witnesses, or stately figures presiding.

The throng of spectators that bid us well on that warm August afternoon will not be present today. In their place however, will be our children. OUR children. The children we had, and are raising together, her and I.

The stained glass and candelabras I remember from that day will also be absent. Replaced by a sliding patio door, and the light fixture that we picked out together, hanging over the dining room table.

Our clothes will vary considerably from those which we wore that afternoon. She of course will look just as beautiful as she did then, and has every day thereafter. I fear my own appearance will not fare nearly as well, especially by day's end.

But of all the things I recall from that day 25 years ago, One thing stands out in my memory. It's the way I felt when she made her entrance, and began to walk down the aisle. I distinctly remember the "WOW", whispered by my best man. I still don't know if it was uttered for my benefit, or if he was simply caught up in the moment, as I couldn't take my eyes off her long enough to glance over and see. And it doesn't matter either way, as that one whispered word summed it all up perfectly.

And 25 years later, the wow factor is still very much in play.

Wow!
Congratulations to you two...fabulous!

Nothing better than falling in love all over again. Especially when it is with the same woman. Congrats on 25 years.

I was really tempted to kid you on this matter. Say things like "Can I have permission to use those lines on my wife (but would change the years to 33)?" Or "You should sell that to be put on an anniversary card saying". Or "Yep, that ought to work to get you some tonight." But I will avoid the temptation to make light of a heartfelt admission of ones love and dedication to his companion. I'll avoid the onryness inherited from my mothers side of the family this time. I'm above that........ kinda.

I understand the way you feel. My wife is the best thing that ever happened to me too.

Very nice.
Congratulations!

Keep sparkin'

WOW! Well put Sir

The results of marrying up; many of us have.
Congrats to the bride and groom

Congrats, Tony! And very well said!

You're a good man Tony. All I remember from our special day is the fear of the unknown, and nausea.

Me and Momma are right at 30 years, and she's still on double secret probation.

Congrats Spark to you and yours on such a wonderful occasion.

Brettski
Friends have a funny way of saying things when you marry up . I remember a friend (college football head coach) looking at me and saying "I think you out kicked your coverage" when he seen my wife.

Damn, I thought that was my line.

Having met you, Tony, your wife didn't do so bad either.

Congratulations!

Congratulations, Spark!

Seems a rarity these days. You're a very lucky man and from what I hear, she's pretty lucky as well, let alone the kids!

Enjoy your special day as you look at each other after 25 years and say,,,,,, wow!

I agree, very well spoken. Congrats and may you have many more fine 8-19s

Congrats sparky...and to your bride as well!

Congrats to you and your wife!!

Picture or it didn't happen. Thats what they always tell me. LOL Just kidding you. Congrats !!!!

Congrats to both of you. Staying together these days is a feat. I was more nervous last year when my wife and I renewed our vows than I was when we were first married. We had a big shindig, it was fifty years.

Congrats Tony! Hope to see you post gold 25 years from now.

Spoke to an acquaintance yesterday who after being married less than two years, and now with a child, has gotten divorced. Now he has nothing but hate and spite for his former bride and I have to wonder how that can happen? How can two people make such a deep, serious commitment and then have that happen? But it happens all the time. Am I, or we, just fortunate?

I can remember 17 yrs ago not being very sure I knew what i was doing. However, over time our marriage has only gotten stronger. I've gone from thinking I "hope" we make it 25 yrs to I "know" we'll make it. No, I don't think it's that we've been fortunate. I think we've been blessed.

Sounds like you've been blessed as well. Congrats on your anniversay, Sprkplug!

I once heard that we always know the person that we marry. However, if a divorce hits, we find that we never knew them as well as we thought. I found that to be very true.

Tony, not tryin ta harsh ya but several folks have mentioned that your wife did OK also. I think that ANYBODY that frequents here and is able to convince their spouse they are stable enough to stick with is playing way out of their league. Congrats again.

No arguments on this end, Bob. I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I'm smart enough to realize that I was lucky, and I've got a pretty good thing going on here!

Thanks to everyone for wishing us well! It was a good day.

Congrats Sparkie! It's a rare occurrence in today's society for 2 people to even stay together at all that long, much less and still be happy to do it every day.

You and the bride are two lucky people to have found each other.

Congrats Sparks!!!
I too celebrated my 25th anniversary back in March, but had to delay our special trip until this past week (we returned last night).
Interestingly, our destination was a location that is frequented by newlyweds (mostly on the parents' nickel).
While souvenir-shopping with my bride I noticed the t-shirt shown below.
It's sorta sad that so many husbands agree with the concept; but those who choose/chose wisely can't help but disagree with the t-shirt's implication.
Congrats to you and your bride. You obviously chose wisely.

Sweet long term roommates are hard to find. Enjoy the anniversary.

Hell Bill, you know I'm available!!!

Bob-O - you pack too much 'heat' for my interests - permit to carry that is.