My wife Mary usually proofreads my articles before publication. I skipped that procedure because I want this article to be a surprise to her. On July 23^rd we will celebrate our 39^th wedding anniversary.

Over 40 years ago, I, a black man, broke into the home of a hippie white girl. She was my neighbor who locked herself out of her apartment. She stopped me on my way to the parking lot and asked me to break in. In today's hypersensitive America, some would call her a racist for assuming I was knowledgeable about breaking and entering. Did I mention that she was really cute? Anyway, once inside her apartment, we talked for four hours. I loved her adventurous spirit and her desire to see what's on the other side life's mountains.

Mary and I both came from good hardworking parents. Neither of us grew up believing we were owed anything. Still, it was the 1970's and we embraced the hippie movement despite not really understanding what the privileged rich kids leading the movement were so angry about. Thank God we eventually became Christians and embraced our conservative roots. The old saying is true. “If you are not a liberal at 20, you have no heart. If you are not conservative by 40, you have no brain.”

Sadly, 1960s hippie activists got a foothold into our government; they are hell-bent on creating their drug-induced flower child Utopian society. There are glaring examples around the world of how hippie ideas (socialism) have failed. Still, the old hippies running our government still believe government throwing more money at problems, more confiscation of wealth for redistribution, more repeals of individual freedoms and more surrendering to countries that hate us will bring about utopia; living in strawberry fields forever. This is why my mantra is “Never Hillary” folks. Never ever Hillary.

Interracial dating was still a no-no back in the 1970s. A carload of white guys spotted Mary and me in our car and angrily chased us. It took fancy driving to escape them.

On another occasion, a white stranger approached our table in a family-style restaurant and broke a bottle over my head. He then ran out of the restaurant, and was later apprehended by police.

Then there was the time at a traffic light stop when an enraged white guy jumped out of his car and cussed us out. He concluded his rant by yanking his chewing gum from his mouth and throwing it at our car. We laughed.

Another time, we were forced to run into a bar in Fells Points Baltimore to escape angry white guys. What I am about to say is a “guy thing.” While I rationalized that it was wiser to run into a bar rather than fighting to defend the honor of my lady and possibly spending the rest of the evening at the police station, the incident still felt humiliating.

Blacks and whites tried several times to break us up. We were approached to join an interracial dating support group. We declined the invitation because the group members were just plain weird -- angry at their race. They dated interracial to punish their race. Mary and I dated because we loved each other. Period.

For the most part, both our families were embarrassed by us dating outside of our race. The minister and my brother were the only family members who attended our wedding.

From day one of our marriage, Mary has been an awesome wife; seeing and nurturing qualities in me that I did not know I had.

Eph: 5:22 “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as unto the Lord.”

Eph 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.”

Liberals rebel against God's nature order. They pervert God's call for wives to submit to their husbands to mean women are inferior. Nothing could be further from the truth. Mary honors me as the head of our household out of her devotion. I am not her boss. My feisty Irish and Cherokee 5 foot something, a little over 120 pounds wife would never tolerate that. Mary, her mom and two sisters are all strong, extremely bright, take charge women who respect their husbands. Still, they are not to be messed with. They can be tough while understanding the powerful gift of their femininity.

When Mary entered a competition to do 10 Mary Kay Cosmetics presentations (parties) in one week, I did my part to help her achieve her goal. Mary won the top regional sales award. At the awards presentation event, I was blown away and very proud.

Mary has a discerning eye. She has cautioned me, “Stay away from that guy. He's a sleaze.” I'd said, “But he seems like a nice guy.” Every time, Mary's instincts were proven correct.

Sometimes, I jokingly refer to Mary as my “Mean White Lady.” In my youth, I allowed myself to be exploited, singing for free for every organization with a sad story, claiming to have a tiny budget. Interestingly, these organizations always found funds to hire out-of-town performers. Mary took over booking my performanes. Word got back to my dad. Dad said someone told him, “Lloyd was nice. Now, a mean white lady answers the phone.”

My “Mean White Lady” still cheerfully brings me coffee every morning.

In Peggy Noonan's book, “When Character Was King”, she talks about how Nancy Reagan felt her major role was to care for and protect Ronnie. Folks, I can I relate to that, big-time. Like Reagan, I too have been blessed with an extraordinary “helpmeet.”

Twenty years ago, I wrote and recorded a song honoring Mary titled, “When I Look In Your Eyes.” Over the years, we refer to the song as “Eyes.” Please give “Eyes” a listen. http://bit.ly/28UQslz

Please wish my beautiful awesome gift from God, a happy 39^th wedding anniversary. I would really appreciate it. God bless, Lloyd

Lloyd Marcus, The Unhyphenated American; Chairman: The Conservative Campaign Committee; LloydMarcus.com