Reporter's Note: President Obama is preparing his jobs speech, but I am putting off work for one more day.

Dear Mr. President,

I hope this Tuesday is finding you well, because it has found me cooling out at home. No work for me; just a nice, gray day with soft rain and lots of lovely celebration at our house because my wife and I have been married for 25 years. And as she likes to say, "It's been 14 of the happiest years of my life!" Ha! She is a riot.

Kidding aside, she has been a wonderful partner in all that I have done over the past 25 years and I try not to forget it, because as John Donne wrote so long ago "No man is an island.". (He also wrote, "No dog is a coffee table," but that just confused people, so it is quoted a lot less.)

My point is, no matter what we accomplish in life, it is good to remember that we did not do it alone. Anniversaries are good for that. They give you a moment to stop and ponder how different your life would be without the aid of others, and if you are lucky enough to have a wonderful partner as I have had for all these years, you can truly see how much better your life is for it.

Same goes for you. I know, you've got the whole "Hey, I'm the leader of the free world" going for you, but the truth is your wife, and your children, and the rest of your family and friends deserve credit too. Without them, you simply would not be the person you are.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that for 25 years, through good and bad, in a very tough, demanding profession, my wife has been a steady friend, a trusted companion, and so much more. She has reassured me when I've been right, she has gently corrected me when I have been wrong, and she's helped me through a million situations in which the right choices were hard to figure. If I were robbing a bank, I'd want her at the wheel of the getaway car...uh, unless parallel parking is involved. But that's a different story.

So I will wrap this up and head off to celebrate a bit more. Don't bother calling today, unless you just want to wish her a happy anniversary. (I was once sent away on assignment on our anniversary and my old colleague Peter Jennings called her to sing The Anniversary Waltz...true story!)

Regards,
Tom