Thanks for the ride, Darling, 

October 31, 1975. Even though that was 50 years ago I remember it like it was just yesterday.

50 years ago tonight this smokin hot, 15 year old blonde named Linda Ledbetter I'd recently met agreed to go out with me. Man I was a nervous wreck. I took her to the Pizza Hut in North Topeka. I went ahead and ordered us both drinks and my all time favorite mushroom pizza only to find out later she really, really hated mushrooms.

We finished our exquisite dining experience and headed off right down the street. I took her to the Cloverleaf Drive-In to see The Longest Yard with Burt Reynolds.

It's funny, she didn't like my taste in pizza and I suspect she questioned my intentions by taking her to a drive-in theater in the first place but for whatever reason, from that first date on we never looked back and were together ever since..

Somehow or another after we stumbled through that first date we managed to turn it into a lifetime together. A lifetime filled with struggles, celebrations, happiness, sadness, chaos, and calm.

We raised three kids, paid bills, we loved each other, we fought like cats and dogs, but at the end of every day we always had each other.

Till we didn't.

I have no idea what life has in store for me from here on out.

What I do know though is that even though you're no longer here I still love you with all my heart and I'll miss you till the day that I die...