Today is a life changing day for me - the butterfly effect

[NewHendoLib]

Today is my wife's birthday. (here ends quite a stretch for us - a December anniversary, Christmas, New Years, then both our birthdays - mine was Friday). January so far as been a bit of an unexpected fog - COVID hit me on the 3rd, my wife 5 days later - she had the Paxlovid rebound, which I avoided - she actually is starting to taste food again (a good thing - I am making her sticky toffee pudding for dessert tonight - she has the sweetest of sweet tooths - sweet teeth? )

Anyway - this day, her birthday, I see as the most important day of MY life. Our 42 year and counting love affair and friendship and mutual admiration span, our companionship, our sharing of tastes in music and books and movies, our shared politics...her support of my crazy heirloom tomato hobby, patience with all my absences during speaking trips (though she does come with me on the "good ones"!) - her watching out for me for those who may try to use me or take advantage of me - I can't imagine life without her. I suspect if she was asked, the above would all be true for her as well - she is so wonderfully humble, yet such a talented sewer, knitter and quilter.

Then there are our two daughters - both adventures at times (as all children are - we, as children, were certainly adventures for our parents). Without my wife, there would not be daughters. Or the great dogs and cats we've had over the years.

It's that theme that plays out in It's A Wonderful Life - understanding the impact that each of us can have on the world, and what things would be like in our absences.

Anyway - just rambling here, but I feel like the luckiest person in the world - that she existed in this world so I could run into her at a party neither of us, in turns out, wanted to go to. That chance meeting - and all that has followed.

Now that each of us is moving into the latter half of our 60s, it is sobering to realize that anything can happen - at some point it will - and one of us will be left to navigate this screwed up world alone. But until that happens, we are so enjoying the ride. And - my wife's Happy Birthday is simply my Happiest of days! Sometimes we do get lucky. I know - I did - and am.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

1. Aww damn ... something in my eye ...

What a sweet post

Hope it's wonderful day, and one of many more still yet to come for both of you, together

[SheltieLover]

2. What a beautiful tribute to Mrs. NHL!

So happy for you both that you've found each other & have been enjoying life together!

Happy Bday to Mrs. NHL!

[3catwoman3]

3. What a lovely and living tribute.

Are you going to show this to her? (I vote "yes - you should.) I'm sure you've expressed this to her verbally over your years together, and having it written down, too, would allow her to savor it over and over again.

[FakeNoose]

4. What a wonderful tribute

Happy Birthday to the lucky lady! Enjoy your day to the fullest.

[lark]

5. You and your wife are lucky people and even better, you realize and celebrate that.

So awesome and best wishes for the future as well.

[Botany]

6. So she is your Gaz to your Pacho

Enjoy your day together.

[barbtries]

7. happy Birthday!

I am so happy for you both. What you have is rare and wonderful.

[cilla4progress]

8. Gorgeous, NHL!

As we've noted here before, your timeline closely parallels that of my husband and me! 42 years married, late 60s, one adventure of a daughter, gardeners! 😀

What an uplifting post to start my day!

Butterfly effect? Will go and google. Sounds lovely.

Happy birthday to your wife!

[cilla4progress]

9. Wow - just found this!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect

Snip:

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state.

The term is closely associated with the work of mathematician and meteorologist Edward Norton Lorenz. He noted that the butterfly effect is derived from the metaphorical example of the details of a tornado (the exact time of formation, the exact path taken) being influenced by minor perturbations such as a distant butterfly flapping its wings several weeks earlier. Lorenz originally used a seagull causing a storm but was persuaded to make it more poetic with the use of butterfly and tornado by 1972.[1][2] He discovered the effect when he observed runs of his weather model with initial condition data that were rounded in a seemingly inconsequential manner. He noted that the weather model would fail to reproduce the results of runs with the unrounded initial condition data. A very small change in initial conditions had created a significantly different outcome.[3]

[momta]

30. And then there's this one...

[Prairie_Seagull]

10. I am pretty sure that will not fit on a hallmark card.

Great tribute to your S.O. and your lives together. Sounds like you both have had "A wonderful life"

[uppityperson]

11. Happy birthday to her, so glad you found each other those many yrs ago

[PCIntern]

12. You're very fortunate.

Take it from someone who was dealt a difficult hand and semi-misplayed it.

[niyad]

13. Damn, it is dusty in here. Thank you for sharing that wondrrful tribute to your

wife, and your lives together. May yo be blessed with many, many more years and memories.

Please wish Mrs. NHL the happiest of birthdays.

[panader0]

14. You are one of the lucky ones. Happy Birthday to the Mrs.

Perhaps seamstress would be a better choice of words than sewer. Kidding....

[Delphinus]

15. What a wonderful

sharing of your life - I'm so glad I read this.

May you have many more days of love together.

[calimary]

16. Happy birthday to both of you/each of you!

And thank you for a wonderful and most thought-provoking post.

I’m there, myself. In parallel ways. What would have happened, at any number of time-points, if I’d married that other guy 40+ years ago… and now, at THIS time-point, wondering which one of us will go first (and how will I cope because as a woman and as he’s a few years older than I am, I frankly expect him to go first). LOTS of path-taken and path-not-taken deliberations in the What-I-Know-Now Land perspective. And the resulting how-do-I-prepare-for-it questions - that I frankly haven’t had the courage to start actually dealing with yet.

[BComplex]

17. Happy Birthday to Susan? Right?

I met her years ago in Raleigh! Beautiful romantic story!

[Stinky The Clown]

18. My best to you both!

I am Italian, not Jewish, but I can think of no words more generally appropriate:

Mazel Tov!

[peppertree]

19. Here's to the Mrs. - and to the simple twists of fate!

[alwaysinasnit]

20. Thank you for sharing. Wishing you and all your family happiness and tranquility.

[KS Toronado]

21. Wish I was as Lucky.........

[DFW]

22. A wonderful tribute, and congratulations

Taken from another who has been there and done that—and we’re still there, still doing that. We are part of the fortunate few, and it does us well to recognize it.

[blm]

23. 💗💐💗

[Upthevibe]

24. NewHendoLib.........

What a beautiful, wonderful tribute to your life partner. She sounds like your true soulmate...

Dang those onions......

[ProfessorGAC]

25. Good For You!

I can identify with the "being gone" thing. I traveled a lot.
All over the world but we could never coordinate it for her to go with me, without her flying in alone after I'd been there a while. And, she has anxiety issues with flying, let alone flying alone.
It's hard for the person left home, so I understand.

[mnhtnbb]

26. Happy Birthday to Mrs NHL

and may you both enjoy many more birthdays together!

[yardwork]

27. You know the secret to happiness!

And, if you haven't heard it, check out Jason Isbell's song "If We Were Vampires." I think you'll like it.

❤️

[malaise]

28. Lovely - stay happy

Rec

[electric_blue68]

31. *Happy Birthday* 🎂 to her! Keep enjoying each other's company & love!

Could be: sweet tooth x 10, or sweet tooth¹² 😁👍

How nice she has a hubs you can whip a lovely favorite dessert. Extra points!

[nightwing1240]

32. Happy Birthday to and treasure her

Which I can see from your post that you do. It is fantastic what love can do. Have a wonderful day you and your spouse

[OldBaldy1701E]

33. Happy Birthday fellow Tarheels! (n/t)

[CousinIT]

34. You two are so very lucky!

It sounds like you married your best friend. 💓 And she did, too! Wishing her AND you many more years together. ❤️

[orleans]

35. such a sweet, lovely post. wishing you both a wonderful day nt

[pandr32]

36. Such a beautiful tribute to your wife and your life together.

Wishing your wife a happy birthday!