From Jeannie: “What a wonderful picture! After reading the blog, I saw Maria as the heart and soul of the life you’ve created together. A life of love and respect, kindness and caring. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

What Jeannie said was true; I appreciate her helping me see the power of it. It doesn’t get any better than this.

When I began the blog in 2007, it was all me – my animals, my work, my troubles, my life. In 2010, Maria and I were married, and she moved into my life. My life and our lives together have gotten better every single day.

Over time, her story fused with mine, and it became one story, not two.

I have learned how to open up to love and free my better angels from here.

Over these years, Maria has built her own life while enriching mine. Her creativity has been unleashed, she is wondrously creative. With her came a life of love and respect, kindness and carrying, as Jeannie describes.

Almost every massage I get now begins with “Jon and Maria,” she has moved from the periphery of my life to the center, and now, she is the heart and soul of Bedlam Farm.

She has also grown and blossomed as an artist, successful, celebrated, and always creative. Her love of the animals and the farm infuses our lives with color and light.

And that was precisely what I felt about this picture. People sometimes ask if Maria’s popularity and the love she generates and receives make me uneasy or insecure.

No, just the opposite. Our love transcends that. A victory for each of us is a victory for both of us. We are as happy for the other as we are for ourselves, sometimes more.

Thanks, Jennie, for bringing this miracle into perspective for me. Maria is the heart and soul of this place now, something I celebrate and rejoice over.

Whatever happens to me in my life, however long it lasts, I am nothing but grateful for what she has brought to me, and to so many others. I could not have asked for more.