Believe me. This isn’t about birthdays.
But I will tell you this.
Bob Barker was born on December 12. So were Frank Sinatra, Dionne Warwick, Jennifer Connelly, and many more. Oh, and I can’t forget Edvard Munch, who painted The Scream.
Regardless. This isn’t about them. The person I’m talking about is my life partner, Mary.
She was born on this date, December 12, 1952.
I first met Mary in 1984 at a softball game. From afar. But I knew the minute I saw her that we were somehow connected. Yet, we wouldn’t officially meet for another six months.
Since that time, we’ve been as kindred spirits. And then, a few years later, we committed our life partnership to one another.
She is a good woman to the core. And I mean that in the most tremendous way. I could go on and list all her gleaming qualities, but I won’t ramble on.
Yes, a very good woman. To all the Universe. I love her.
People get together in this world now, don’t they? In many shapes, sizes, and forms, each finding a unique unison.
I imagine people have been marrying one another since human life began. Maybe even before that time, when our predecessors got googly-eyed. The Neanderthals and such. At any rate. It has been a long time. Approximately 300,000 years ago, the first Homo sapiens (anatomically modern humans) came about alongside our other hominid relatives.
So yes. I’m guessing they grunted out a happy “I Do” as they stood at the big rock in the center of all their rocks.
However, we don’t have written evidence of those early unions. Even still, it is widely agreed that the origin of marriage goes back well before recorded history.
But, at some point, humans found pen and paper. And they wrote down the earliest recorded evidence of a marriage ceremony. It dates from about 2350 B.C. in the Far East. Then, we see records from all over the place. Over the next several hundred years, marriages pop up in widespread areas and various cultures.
Today, in the United States, marriages abound.
2.3 million couples wed every year in the United States. That breaks down to about 6,200 weddings per day. And a lot of I Dos.
On average, a couple invites 178 guests to celebrate their wedding.
The average bride is about 25 years old when she marries, while the groom is slightly older, averaging around 27 years old on the wedding day.
The most popular wedding destination outside of the United States is Istanbul, where 166,000 couples wed annually. Las Vegas is the most popular city to get married in in the United States, hosting 114,000 weddings every year.
Oh, it is all very sweet. But not as sweet as this.
The world’s biggest wedding cake was massive, weighing 6,800 kg. That, to you and me, means 14,991.43 pounds. It was made in 2004 in Connecticut.
Or as sweet as this. Some of us are fortunate enough to have found true love in our lives. Our soul mates. Truly, the one who helps us to shine. If we are among those lucky ones, we should give thanks. For what a gift it is that we have received. Oh, Happy Day.
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“Where there is love there is life.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
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“We loved with a love that was more than love.”
– Edgar Allan Poe
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“The heart has its reasons which reason knows not.”
– Blaise Pascal
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The Day. And then there is togetherness.
