From the Cobwebs: Day Twenty-Seven 'Family, Alligators, and True Love'

We Fords were eating tonight at Dickey’s barbecue here in Denver. Mom, Dad, Vicky,
Boyd, Doug, and I were chowing down on some yummy food. We talked about everything and I enjoyed the time with my family more than I can express. We don’t get to see each other all that often, so I cherish the time.

Doug has lost a lot of weight. He’d been telling me about how he has changed his eating habits and that really helped him take off about 80 pounds or so. When Boyd got up to find butter, I noticed that she was super fit and slender, so I asked her if she followed the same eating “habits” as Douglas Paul did. Her answer was in the negative and so I asked her if she was just naturally slender. She said, “Nope and I don’t diet either.“
Then Douglas Paul looked me straight in the eye and said, “Nope. Boyd gets up every morning at 5:00 and works out for 45 minutes. Then she goes to work and works all day. Then she comes home and works out in the garden for several hours. She always works. That is why I married her because she is a worker." In fact, ”said he, “I remember when I was about 6, Daddy told me that I needed to marry a girl who wanted to go fishing with me. And the first thing Boyd ever asked me was if I wanted to go fishing.”
I remember Douglas telling me the story of the day he decided that he was going to be with Boyd forever. He was fishing on a boat on a river in Florida. He saw an alligator over on the bank on the other side of the river. He said to himself, “If that alligator gets into the river and swims over to the boat, then I’ll know that Boyd is the one for me.” And--almost immediately--the alligator got up from his place in the sand and walked into the river water and swam over to their boat.
There is just something about those two that has always seemed so perfect. They really seem to love each other and they have one of the strongest bonds I’ve ever seen in a married relationship. It was really neat to see that little bit of love, devotion, and commitment between them tonight. I love my family and I’m the luckiest girl in the world cuz I have my physical family and my spiritual family. I’m so blessed, yeah?