With Monique and parents on wedding day.

At Mom and Dad's 50th wedding anniversary, 1992.

When our son Mark was a toddler, he required eye surgery. Bandaged across his eyes for a week, he became lost and withdrew even at his young age. He stopped fussing and I guess, accepted the darkness.

On a Sunday morning, around 8:30am, I brought Mark from his crib into our bedroom and put him onto our bed. Slowly, I undid his bandages. When they were fully removed, he blinked his eyes a couple of times, looked at me and then turned to his mother when she made a “cooing” sound. His limited vocabulary held back his words of love but his heart didn’t; he crawled over to her and hugged her for all he was worth and her smile beamed.