Thirty. Flirty. And Thriving.

Happy anniversary, David.

Today, David Radke and I have been married 30 years.

AND THEY SAID IT WOULDN’T LAST!!!

And by “they” I mean my college bestie, Kasey, who literally once said to me, “I feel sorry for whoever marries David Radke. That boy is a playa.”

She wasn’t wrong.

David Radke was a flirt when I met him, when I married him, and when….actually, no, let me take that back. He was flirty when I met him and when I married him, but now he’s just middle-aged and we’re too tired.

I was flirty, too. I wasn’t great at it. It often came off as abrasive and harsh. One guy I flirted with in college actually told my roommate, “That was Melissa flirting? I felt like I was being interrogated by the police.”

David was way better. He once took a girl named Amy to the movies, bought her popcorn and then sucked the butter off her fingertips. We know this because Amy came back to the dorms and told all of us like she had just won the largest stuffed animal at the county fair. We barfed behind her back. I said it would be over MY DEAD BODY that I would ever date a guy who did something like that.

I once asked David why he never tried to suck the butter off my fingertips and he said, “There’s generally not any left after your done licking them yourself.” He has a point.

David, if you are reading this, I wanted to tell you a couple of things I remember about our marriage up to this point:

• I remember how the first date we went on you took me to a movie and you didn’t even stop at the concession stand. I KNEW FULL WELL you had bought some girl named Amy popcorn, so why not me? I asked you and you said, “Her and I just went to a movie. Whereas you and I just finished a huge meal!” I told you my thoughts on this and you have since stopped at every concession stand we’ve ever passed for the last 30 years. lol!

• I remember how the first year of our marriage I drug our mattress on to our balcony at our little apartment. I made a picnic on top of it with roses and drinks and blankets and little white powdered donuts. I then made a trail of rose petals and love notes from the front door to the patio so that you would walk in from work and find it and it would lead you to me. You got out of your car, walked through the door and without looking at one love note or wasting one second you walked straight to the patio and said, “Why are you out here? It’s Dallas. It’s dangerous. You ever get a good look at this patio in the daylight? I didn’t pay good money for this mattress to have blood stains on it.”

• I remember going to Hawaii on our 10 year wedding anniversary and even in that beautiful, tropical location you STILL made me do the Dave Ramsey envelope system. Nothing says luxury like looking in your envelope and realizing you’ll spend your last night in Maui at a Burger King.

• I remember when you planned a surprise vow renewal for me on the beach with our best friends and hand written vows.

• I remember how you chose our kids over yourself every single day since they were born.

• I remember how you cry every time we talk about God.

• I remember how you gave me a poncho one year for Christmas and it was the ugliest thing I’d ever seen - so you made up for it the next year with Adele tickets.

• I remember how you took shots for a year because your allergies were so bad but you knew how bad I wanted a kitten.

The truth is, I remember so much. So much good. So much bad. So much hard. But the memories that stick out to me are the ones where you are making me happy. Or making me laugh. Or making me confident. Or making me feel like the prettiest woman in the world.

I remember thinking 30 years would feel like a lifetime, but really, it’s only felt like a breath.

And I remember how thankful I am that every breath was with you.

I love you,

Melissa