Over the Rainbow to the Forbidden Planet

(or our life together these 20 years)

On 23 August 2002 we celebrated 20 years of partnership. On that date 20 years earlier the bond between us was created with a simple invitation to hold hands at the movies. This was at the long defunct Parkway theater on Clark Street and the movies that day were "The Wizard of Oz" and "Forbidden Planet."

A lot happens in 20 years. A lot of it wasn't easy, but then nothing worthwhile is.

A quick summary of this "lot" is...

We've had 6 dogs together, four of which are still with us. Sam, a true gentleman, passed in May of 1993 after being with us for 8½ years and sweet Lucy passed December 2001 after being with us for 14. Both were such special and gentle souls whose places in our hearts and home were fundamental to our lives. We've also had birds, and at one point had an indoor aviary with over 50 finches.

The bird count is down to 18. The canine members of our family that remain from oldest to youngest are Missy (13), Kimba (10), Knight (9), and SurfRider (5). Missy is a foxlike muttley, Kimba, Knight and SurfRider are retired racing greyhounds and are all lovers with forever homes in our hearts.

We have lived in six rentals together before settling into our current home. We are not expecting any more moves.

We've seen our twenties pass, our thirties pass, and now our forties passing. We savor each day as it passes.

The career changes have been numerous. Stavros has been a waiter, bartender, clerk, assistant store manager, supervisor, computer programmer, and network guy. Tom has been a baritone, a bari-tenor, a tenor, a retail clerk, a bagel-cook, a swing band singer, a classical choruster, an opera singer, and a union guy. The early years were very lean, the latter years not so lean.

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