My husband Giancarlo and I got married 31 years ago today; those years went by in such a blend of events and emotions that I feel like we hurtled through time. It doesn’t seem possible that that many years have gone by. Our two children – the blessings of our life- are the anchoring points of that blitz through time. That we stayed the course is amazing. An American girl meets a Swiss man one evening in Washington, D.C., and that was it- instant, enduring connection. Falling in love,  my heart was taken. I have reason to be thinking back to our first months of marriage, which for me meant life in a new country, because my wonderful, beautiful Goddaughter fell in love deeply and completely with a man who reminds me a bit of Giancarlo and she moved to a new city yesterday to be with him. What I want to write her is this: there will be times when you will want to leave, when you will think, I don’t want to be with this man anymore. There will be lows where you will think the only way out is out. But stay the course, live through the lows as you will emerge with a stronger union. Remember the passion, remember the love,remember that breath-taking appreciation of all of his best qualities,  remember that magnetic, chemical pull that drew you to that man, and have faith that those are the ties that bind.

LOVE