Eight Years - A Pretty Good Start

When I was in Cologne, I walked across the Hohenzollern Bridge, which crosses the Rhine, to find a better view of the Kolner Dom.  But I ended up forgetting about the Dom for a while because the bridge  was so fascinating.  Well, not the bridge itself, but the tens-of-thousands of padlocks that were locked to the fences lining the bridge.  This was my introduction to Love Padlocks - a phenomenon that is spreading to cities around the globe.  It took me a minute to figure out, because nearly all the inscriptions are in German, but the padlocks are engraved with the names of love-birds, and sometimes a small saying, dates, names of children, and so on.  It was an impressive collection, and the individual variations were so interesting that I spent nearly an hour viewing and trying to read the locks.

Love Padlocks

It's really such a simple symbol and concept, but I really did love just walking around and looking at how people came together collectively to publicly express their love - a common, daily occurrence - but tried to make their padlock unique (with colors, sayings, size, etc.) to show that their love was unique and lasting.

Stainless Love

Shortly thereafter, I went inside the Dom to climb the 500+ steps to the top of the tower, and nearly every inch of the walls and stairs of that enormous stone staircase was lined with layer upon layer of scrawled and painted love notes (e.g., Peter und Corentin).  It got me thinking about how people try to memorialize what they're feeling at the moment.

Graffiti Love

It also got me thinking about how Suzanne and I have never really done anything like this.  Our names are not scrawled in any sidewalks, carved on any trees, written on any bathroom stalls, or etched on a padlock on a bridge.  Of course, we did have that wonderful initial period where we were madly in love with each other, and couldn't think about anything else, and wanted to publish it to the world.  But our love has grown and matured so much over the years that it now feels strange to think of those initial feelings as love.  The padlocks and etchings are sweet, but they don't compare to what we now have to memorialize our love (including two perfect sons).

And so, my SiouxZQ, I'm glad I locked you up when I could, and I'm glad that you're mine forever. 

St. George Temple (where it all began)

Forever.  Like a padlock, only better.