For better, for worse, for scarier, for wearier, for happier, for....

Today is our eighteenth wedding anniversary. In Hebrew, the letters for the word "life" add up to "18." So I figure this is a year to celebrate our life as a couple. We have shared and savored the "better" part of our vows—our children, our first house, family gatherings, good friends, a caring community, fun vacations, work promotions, graduations, a bar (Max) and a bat (Sabrina) mitzvah, our children's inchstones, milestones, successes and accomplishments and so much more. We have weathered "worse"—finding out our firstborn had a stroke, the passing of loved ones, health scares, operations, layoffs, natural disasters, political nightmares.

We have been together...

For sadder
 For scarier
  For calmer
   For moodier
    For gloomier
   For brighter
  For surer
   For bossier
     For grouchier
      For cheerier
       For flakier
        For stubborner
       For closer
      For needier
       For wearier
        For tearier
         For smarter
          For pickier
           For testier
          For plumper
         For slimmer
         For madder
        For kinder
       For sillier
        For lazier
          For bolder
           For sunnier
             For funnier
              For saner
               For braver

And especially for stronger.

Here's to us, honey, and for being perpetually luckier to have each other.