21 happy years

I'm about to get sappy. But it won't last long.

Twenty-one years ago today, my wife and I started dating. She's been my sweet and beautiful girl ever since then. She's barely had an interest in baseball all these years, yet she's put up with my nonstop babbling about the sport and the piles of cards around the house without complaint.

We actually began dating in St. Louis, of all places. I live far away from the Gateway to the West, but the two of us and a bunch of fellow budding college journalists took a road trip halfway across the country for a four-day seminar. We partied for those four days, spent Halloween on Laclede's Landing, toured the old Busch Stadium, drank in countless bars, danced on riverboats, went up to the top of the Gateway Arch, and made memories that will last forever.

And in 2008, Allen and Ginter decided to make a card to commemorate Oct. 29, 1987. Thanks guys!