Happy Anniversary Baby!

Ok, to all the "other" readers, I will apologize up front, but this may get mushy! Between the post by Bearnice and this one, there hasn't really been any "hard" news, but we can get back to that later...
Shannon, you always say that "one of these days" you may let me off the hook for my embarrasing and awkward moments, like at our wedding reception when I totally blanked the idea that I had the opportunity to publicly proclaim my love for you, and chose instead to say a bunch of things about family and friends.....well you can see that with the whole www.world watching, that I hope this makes up for it.
I may be here half a world away right now in the middle of a combat zone, but I still find myself thinking of you - Looking at the bombed out former palaces of dictators past, and think how I am going to describe a particular arch, or mosaic, or artifact. I don't see the war or the bad stuff that often - not because it isn't there, but because I find myself looking for things that are good in my life to tell you about.
It is so incredible when you realize that your life can be made so good, not because you are living in paradise, but because no matter how crappy your situation may be, you have someone to share it with......wait a minute, that didn't come out right. Maybe what I am trying to tell you is that while this may not be ideal right now, at least we still have each other. And while we are apart for almost all the holidays this year, we still have next year, and the year after, and many many more holidays, events, good times and bad times to share, but the key is that we will share them together.
Anniversaries don't mean that we celebrate another year gone by, it means that we revel in the wonderful life we will have together. As I sit here in my time zone, and you in yours (not quite the 7th yet!) I can't help but feel close to you still. And to the whole world, while I may have missed some previous opportunities to get things right, I am making it known now, that I am the luckiest man on earth to have such a wonderful, strong, and amazingly beautiful wife to share the rest of my life with.

Happy anniversary Shannon
Love always,
Vince