My husband and I are not an ordinary couple. Probably the most unique thing about us is that we share the same birthday. The other is that we got married later in life.

When we met, I was in my late twenties and Steve in his late thirties. We discovered early on in our friendship that we were born on the same day. I even remember Steve playing me a Randy Stonehill song called “Turning Thirty” the year I achieved that milestone. (This year, I played him a song, but I won’t say why. For some undisclosed reason, I chose The Beatles’ song, “When I’m Sixty-Four.”)

Then I moved overseas for a decade and we had more birthday milestones, spent apart. But we always remembered each other every November Fourth. Over the years, I’ve had three other good friends who share my birthday, and I feel a special bond with each of them. Probably you do, too. I even feel a special kinship with the famous people born on my day – the late Walter Cronkite, Loretta Swit of M*A*S*H*, and Laura Bush.

When Steve and I got married less than a year after I returned, a mere fifteen years after we met, it seemed like the most natural thing, what God had in mind for us all along. After all, we already had the birthday bond.

And the joy of that day has now doubled. Each year, I get to celebrate it with my favorite person. It just doesn’t get any better than that.