Twenty years of being 'right'

Saturday May 30th, 1992 was one of the best days of my life. That's not to say I haven't had a lot of great days since then, but it feels like all of them depend on that day.

I think it was around 8:30 that morning. Of course, everyone smiles and asks the same question: "Are you nervous?"

No. But after I'd heard the question a hundred times I began to wonder if I should be. Was I missing something?

I asked one of the other grooms in the dressing room if he was nervous. "Everyone keeps asking me that," he said, "but I'm not. It just feels right, you know?" I did know – everything just felt 'right.'

The rest of the day was a bit of a whirlwind. The weather was beautiful and we took pictures on the back side of the Salt Lake Temple because there was scaffolding on the front for cleaning. Someone forgot to have us sign the certificate, but Marilyn Gilmore brought it to the wedding luncheon – although we arrived late because that was our only chance to buy some things we needed before leaving on our honeymoon. (Honest!)

They normally didn't open the garden at the Lion House for receptions before June, but they made an exception since they knew us. And the evening and the reception turned out perfectly beautiful. I thought I'd parked my car where it wouldn't be found but my brothers and sisters and cousins (the Straders) decorated it with shaving cream, shoe polish, Oreo cookies, and aluminum cans.

In some ways that day twenty years ago feels like yesterday and in other ways like we've just always been married. Has everything worked out perfectly for us? Of course not – we've had our ups and downs and joys and quarrels – and when two stubborn people who're both the oldest children in their families come together there's bound to be some challenges. Add four kids and the whirlwind we started 20 years ago just seems to pick up speed each year, but I still feel like the luckiest man in the world... and it still just feels 'right.'

We never really had a song that we called 'ours,' but there were a couple I always thought came close. The one below seems more appropriate than others sometimes. Thanks for the best twenty years of my life, and for putting up with someone who thinks he's always right and knows everything. Happy anniversary, and I love you.