My husband and I are like Andy and Barney. Not in looks! In the way we approach life.

Like Andy, the calm and unruffled sheriff, my husband faces life with a can-do, no-worries attitude and loves a bit of good sarcasm.

Like Barney, the sentimental and high-strung deputy, I am apt to make a big deal out of things which seem earth-shattering to me and have a tendency to stubbornness.

True to the story line, he helps me remember that the sky really isn’t falling although I usually resent his matter-of-fact comments which Barney would term “purposely obtuse.”

My sense of humor usually rates about as high as Barney’s does with Andy, though, in real life, I am sadly lacking next to the great Don Knotts. There are other notable differences — I do not have the ability to “eat and eat and eat and never gain weight.” I am not “wiry like us Fifes.” (but my memory and pronunciation are far better than his!) And my detail-oriented husband wouldn’t be caught dead in shiny black boots which are perpetually unzipped. He doesn’t play the guitar, but he can do a mean fiddle tune!

Also, we don’t have Aunt Bea to fix the food and can the pickles (though I wish we did sometimes!)

Of course, the biggest difference is that we’re not only friends, we’re partners in a marriage that has been going strong for almost 19 years. And because we’re human, sometimes we irritate each other; sometimes we laugh together. But, we’re friends for life. We always come through for the other in a pinch. And though our differences make days in the sheriff’s office interesting, we know that we wouldn’t want to tackle the job without the other.

“You beat everything, you know that, Barn?”

I love ya, Honey…….