The first time I saw the video below was the end of April back in 2009. One of my bosses forwarded to me the email with the link because he thought I might be interested.

As it turns out, I was more than interested. April 2009 was a rough period for me, and the familiar face and voice in the video was a welcome surprise. The face and voice belonged to a former colleague I hadn’t seen in a long while, and I knew his birthday was coming up in a few days, so I sent him an email inviting him to have lunch with me. A few email exchanges and re-scheduled dates later, we sat in J Brian’s in the back booth and I proceeded to download on him everything I’d been going through the last several months and years since I’d seen him. I think I may have allowed him to tell me about his life a little bit too. Let’s just say I talked more than I usually do. Must have been the friendly face and receptive ear.

As he dropped me off at work after lunch (with my to-go box holding most of the lunch I didn’t have time to eat because I was too busy talking), he casually said to me (something along the lines of):

“Whenever you’re ready to start dating again, keep me in mind.”

Well, the rest, as they say, is history. Fast-forward to January 2011. Here’s a clip of Doug sitting in with Blues yer Daddy during our wedding reception:

The last six years have been amazing, wonderful, expensive, and most of all, very busy. Of course it hasn’t always been smooth and easy. Change has been a constant force. Our children have provided many milestones with graduations, weddings, and career accomplishments. We’ve moved several times already as we react and adjust to changes and try to make decisions that will be good for the long haul.

If anything has remained constant over the last six years (other than our devotion to each other, of course), it’s been an effort to keep some element of creativity in our lives. For me, it’s photography. I’ve been trying to improve my skills and take pictures as often as I can. For Doug, it’s music. Time, or the lack of it, has made it harder for him to keep this in his life. Driving to West Virginia to play in his hometown pub is not something you can do every week, or even every month.

This week Doug celebrated another birthday. And while this time around just about everything in his life has changed from six years ago, one thing has remained the same: music. He is now renewing his efforts to play and sing more. He wants to get a band together. He wants to make music.

Happy Birthday, my love. I look forward to hearing you play all the time — whether it’s in our living room or a pub, it’s beautiful music to my ears and those of anyone fortunate enough to be part of the audience, big or small.