HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAREST!!!

A groan escaped me as I looked at the clock and saw that it was 2:30 a.m. My shift had ended at 10:30, but the domestic assault/drug case I had responded to 15 minutes before the end of my shift had required me to hang over. My eyes, red and glassy from fatigue, watched the 5 page affidavit emerge from the printer. Snatching them out of the tray, I walked into the Sgt's office, signed them, and shoved them across the desk at Sgt Dunn to be notarized. "Rough night, eh?" she asked as she scribbled her signature on the last form and handed them back to me. I nodded. "Why did it take so long?" she asked. "He had to be cleared at the hospital before I could transport him to the prison," I answered.

"Have a good night, Josh. I'll see ya tomorrow."

"Good night, Judy."

I shuffled into the dispatch office, slid the case into the bin for outgoing court documents and said "goodnight" to the dispatcher. After changing out of my uniform and into my street clothes I stepped out of the police department and started walking home. Back then we only lived about a block from where I worked. It was a bitterly cold night though. As I walked down the quiet street I began shaking and my teeth were chattering violently. The cold night air was cutting through my clothes like I was dressed in paper and my feet, fingers and nose felt like blocks of ice. My feet had already been cold from the thin leather boots I wore as part of my uniform, but now they were just screaming for relief.

As soon as I got home I stripped down to my boxers and t-shirt and slid into the warm bed next to Sarah. The heavy sheets and blankets, warmed by her body, felt like heaven next to my cold skin. I consciously avoided touching any part of Sarah because every part of me was so cold, and I didn't want to wake her up, but then Sarah's feet slid toward me. She took my cold feet between her own and began rubbing them back and forth- taking my coldness and leaving me her warmth.

...taking my coldness and leaving me her warmth.

...and that a familiar theme in our marriage. I love you, Dearest. I am a lucky man. Happy Birthday!!!