Presented to Rocky on his 70th birthday celebration at Giuseppe’s Restaurant, November 2, 2016:

I can’t tell you how many times someone says to me how lucky I am to be married to Rocky Saxbe. I’m not sure if it was luck, being in the right place at the right time, or some harmonic convergence that brought us together so many years ago in San Francisco. What I do know is we were as opposite as night and day when we met. Rocky was a Senator’s son, a Marine, an Episcopalian, and a Republican traveling the country before reporting for duty in the Marine Corps. I was a Jewish, anti-war college student, footloose and fancy-free, and had no idea where I was heading. The one thing we had in common was neither of us was looking for a relationship. Here we are tonight, 47 years later, and it still feels like we’re on a date. Rocky’s humor and political savvy come from his Dad, and his cooking skills, kindness, and ability to love deeply come from his Mom. In the eyes of my family, Rocky can do no wrong. Yet, how can someone, who’s so close to perfect, also be so bad? It’s one of the things I love most about him. Julie Andrews sang the song “Something Good” to Christopher Plumber in the “Sound of Music,” and this verse best describes my feelings:

Nothing comes from nothing

Nothing ever could

So somewhere in my wicked and crazy childhood

There must have been a moment of truth

For here you are standing there, loving me

Whether or not you should

So somewhere in my youth or childhood

I must have done something good

Last year, during an infusion at the Boster Center for MS, I opened my eyes, looked up, and saw Rocky’s smiling face. I loved him standing there watching over me, so I took this picture and thought, “Yes, I must have done something good.”