I stand here looking at my wife, my Livvie. I think I know how I gave Olivia that nickname, I honestly couldn't live without her. I don't know how I got along before she came to me. I was just a boy, getting up, getting dressed, just surviving and then she came. She made me want to work a little harder, walk a little more upright, she simply made me a better man without trying.

The day I married her was the best day of my life. We had a typical, simple country wedding. There was a lot of white and no lace to her wedding gown. There was not a lot of color to her lips but there was a lot of love, I oughta know, I was the lucky son-of-a-gun who got to kiss 'em. Lord knows when I promised her my word, my love, my life, I was going to give my everything to her. Definitely not one-sided, she has given her everything to me and several times more.

I never did have money to buy her the best, but her body gave me the best. We have seven beautiful children that mean more to me than seven million dollars. Okay, the money would be real nice, but I know how to live life without money, I wouldn't know how not to live without my children. I see the best in Livvie within all my children but especially my girls. She's got Mary Ellen's tough spirit, Erin's natural beauty and Elizabeth's loving soul.

So here it is, another Summer's day, and I have nothing to offer her but myself. Livvie had been working as usual on the farm and around the house. She was wearing one of the few dresses she still owned, that was caked in sweat and a few specks of mud. Her blonde hair was pulled back in her usual bun and her face was make-up free. God, she will never stop being beautiful to me. She was still finishing up the dinner dishes when I sneak up behind her and give her a hug.

"Hello, Livvie," I say, kissing her cheek.

"Hello, John," she says, still doing the dishes like it was nothing. She's bluffing, I see her smile. This means a whole lot of something to her.

"You're a real beautiful woman."

"You're a real liar," she giggles as she playfully slaps me with the dishrag.

"No, I mean it," I say as she finally looks me in the eye. I nod as our eyes lock and she begins to blush. I got her good, I love making her blush.

"John Walton, you sir are a dutiful husband," she says as she looks out the window to check on the kids who were still playing outside. It was beginning to get dark and it would be about time to call them in, but she won't do it. She lets them keep playing as she walks over to me and wraps her arms around me.

"I'm not dutiful," I say, kissing her cheek again. "I'm spontaneous."

"I always liked that about you," she says, finally returning my kiss. We stayed that way for what seemed like a long time. I take in a deep whiff of her hair and smile. She will always have the best smelling hair, no matter what she does or does not do to it.

"I love you, John," she says, breaking off our embrace with her soul-baring smile of hers.

"I love you, too, Livvie."

More than you will ever know, my love.