Marvin McKenzie

Birthday Poems to My Wife Marvin McKenzie

It was 1988. You and I had been married eight years. I was busy trying to pastor the church. I was also working a construction job 48 hours per week. That's no good excuse because, truth be told, I had never been great about remembering gifts and cards on all the important holidays: Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and - the most important of all - your birthday!I can't tell you whether my memory is correct but, as I remember it, when on the morning of your thirty-second birthday I sheepishly confessed my failure. You urged me to make a card. I wrote a poem and a tradition was born. It's been thirty years since that first birthday poem. This year I thought a little bit ahead. I composed your annual poem, Anita. But I did it early enough to include it in this birthday gift - all of the poems bound together in one book. Happy birthday Anita. I love youMarvin