Having just celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary, a whirlwind of an event orchastrated by my two loving kids, I find myself in a somewhat numbing state of denial. Inside my torn and twisted old frame, a self inflicted condition resulting from years of racing and crashing dirt bikes and muscle cars, lives the heart and mind of a much youger man. I wonder how it is possible for the years to have flown by so quickly. It truely seems only yesterday I was single, independant, care-free and totally selfish. My world circled entirely around one thing...ME! Marriage and having children changed all that forever...and is probably the single biggest contributing reason to the fact that I am still alive.

Now, my friends, of course, feel obligated to ask the same old cliqued question,"how do you do it? How can you stay so happily married that long?" My sarcastic reply, "easy...I crash big at least once every few years and smack my head hard enough to forget everything! It is like starting over all the time! Right now, I think I've only been married 18 months!" The truth....I am one undeservedly spoiled brat. I have a wife who once held 13 national beauty titles in the Philippines and modeled for Kodak, Halmark and Pepsi. She is not only my constant companion, she is my best friend. Best. We have two incredible kids who bless our lives and have never given us an ounce of trouble (though I must admit I am a little disappointed in my son who STILL fails in his attempts to beat me on a dirt bike......but then, he's on a Honda, so I don't expect much!!) A prophet of God once said, "no other success can compensate for failure in the home" and my soul believed those words like none other. When chaos prevails and the world becomes a horrid place to exist, going home to my family shuts close the gates and shores up security to my soul. If I could offer up any words of profound wisdom to spawn the world forward into true marital bliss, I would have to proclaim a simple message "don't get married to ANYONE......unless they are your absolute best friend." I gotta run now, I gotta go bop my kids upside the head just in case they were THINKING about doing something naughty. Now THAT is real parenting skills right there! May God bless you and yours and bring our soldiers home safe to their families. Peace, -Corky Clevenger- {Father}