Ten Things You Don't Know About Mr. B

1. He was named after both his grandfathers, which turned out better than you might expect, because his parents use their middle names. Otherwise, I'd be married to Gerhard Sidney. One of his childhood neighbors was named Merlin.

2. He was a bad boy teen, whose father enlisted him in the Navy on his 17th birthday, which meant he went to active enlistment right after his senior year in High School. This was in 1968. Good morning, Viet Nam!

3. We met in 1979. He is 6'3" tall and at that time weighed 145 lbs. He now tips the scales at 175 and thinks he's fat.

4. He taught himself both photography and water painting since we met. He has been teaching photography at a local place called Leisure Learning U for 30 years.

5. He started reading mysteries after seeing how much I enjoy them and prefers British writers, especially British women authors.

6. Despite complaining about the high cat population, he was responsible for bringing several of them into our lives, most recently Freddy and Flossie in 2011.

7. After my ex-husband died in August, 2014 he did a wonderful job escorting middle daughter Mary down the aisle when she married in October that year. 

8. He is known in the family for his (ahem!) interesting approach to fixing problems. Years ago an arrangement involving ropes, pulleys and a ladder on a porch roof was turned down by the actual repairman hired. Lance said "No, Tim. No, we are not going to do it that way." This was the day after he'd *solved* a leak in the window unit air conditioner by drilling into it with predictable results. He is legendary among hundreds of people in Houston for an incident that involved a burning mattress.

9. He once saw a man on the service road of the freeway walking a full-grown turkey on a leash.

10. He is smart and creative and caring and always, always makes me laugh.

Here's to my other half!

Michele