Cinderella

Ronnie went to Annapolis. He played football there, but it was the righteous kind. He threw a couple of TD passes in the Army-Navy game his senior year. I nearly fell out of the stands celebrating. Now, he's a Lieutenant Commander and XO on a Seawolf-class fast attack submarine, down there in the deep blue underneath the ocean. Needless to say, he isn't bashful Ronnie anymore.

This brings us back to where we began. Love is an odd thing. Unpredictable and uplifting to the people who experience it. Still, whatever the word might mean to you in personal terms, the ability to spend your days with the right person will give you a life well-lived.

That gets particularly important as the icy winds of your seventies begin to blow, and you know that the frozen reality of winter is right behind.

I would have never understood that simple truth in my earlier years. It took the perspective of a long life to see why sharing every aspect of yourself with the right person is the most gratifying experience in the entire diverse pantheon of human rewards.

It was blind luck that led me to Billie. But once I'd found her, I was smart enough to do whatever it took to get and keep her. Looking at my wife's dear face now, I think about how much we've supported each other in the inexorable climb toward the end of things - and it reminds me how fortunate I've been.

Blessed are those who can look back at their life and say, "It was all worthwhile." I'm one of those lucky few because of one caring woman.