Love

There are a lot of special people in my life, a lot of them.  They have touched my life in different ways but they have all done it with love.  Some are related, some I work with, many are union sisters and brothers, and all our friends.
To all of you I want to wish a happy Valentines Day.  Please know that I can never repay the love you show me or fully express my love for you in words.
Please also excuse me if I single out one woman from among you.

I met Michelle in high school, her long blond hair and big brown eyes enchanted me.
She was kind enough to agree to be my girlfriend and then my wife.
We have seen good times and bad together. We have celebrated births and cried together at deaths.
We have worried together about our family and I know I could not have made it through these times without her support.
She has stood with me these last several years as I became active in the union movement, as my evenings became consumed with meetings and functions and my weeks with trips, and I spent less and less time at home.
And after all that, when I approached her earlier this year with a new project, which would take even more time, she agreed, because although she wanted me at home, she put my dreams ahead of her wishes.
How do you repay that?
This summer will make 40 years we have been husband and wife. I have lived with and loved her for 2/3 of my life.
I do not know why I have been blessed so much, but I am extremely grateful.

My darling Michelle, I can never repay the love you have given me, I can never fully express what you mean to me, so let me just say,
I love you and I always will.
Happy Valentines Day.