Soap Box

My little Oklahoma Rose, my precious wife, Hazel, turned sixty-five the eighth of July and she's just as lovely and vibrant as ever.

She's the same girl who I told I loved her for the first time at the top of a ferris wheel at Mohawk Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

She's the same girl who came to Nashville in 1967 with a husband who had a twenty-dollar bill and the clutch out of his car.

She's the same girl who has stood by me in sickness and in health, through years and years of chasing my dreams, through repossessed cars, mountainous debts, through cancer and cantankerousness.

She has been a wonderful mother and deserves most of the credit for raising a fine son, honest and loving.

She has been ready to try anything I have thrown her way, from golf to horseback riding, from motorcycles to shot gunning down clay targets, to hauling huge King Salmon out of cold Alaskan waters.

She has seen me at my best and my worst, at my highest point and my lowest point, she's seen me win and lose, she's seen me when I've lost my way and had to start over again. She's seen me up, down and sideways and through it all she has been my shelter, my anchor, my tether to the reality of what's really important in life.

She is the centerpiece of my life on this earth and after more than four decades together, she still excites me, comforts me and sometimes carries me over a rough patch.

Never let anybody tell you that love has to change when you grow older. Youth is fleeting but true love never cools, never becomes commonplace and never ends.

Hazel is the best friend I have in this world and I'd rather spend time with her than anybody on this planet. We can sit for hours talking, reading or just listening to the birds sing and admiring the beautiful flowers in her yard.

We don't go out a lot, we'd rather stay at home and besides, the best eating place in Tennessee is at Hazel's table.

The Bible says that when two people are married they should become as one and my wife is as much a part of me as my heart. I can't and don't want to imagine my life without her, and in reality, there is no sense in thinking about such things.

I believe that somehow, some way, real true love transcends the grave and I know my little finite mind cannot begin to perceive the wonder and joy of Heaven, but I am hoping to spend eternity there with my little Okie Rose.

Happy Birthday, Darlin'.

Pray for our troops.

God Bless America

� Charlie Daniels

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