Tampa Bay Buccaneers

A moment 50 years in the making.

The two were married in their hometown of York, Pennsylvania in St. Rose of Lima church on June 12, 1971, like the two good Catholic kids they were. Chris didn't care much for a big wedding and the two didn't even have a honeymoon. Bruce had to start work the next evening at the steel mill for a summer job before going back to Virginia, where Bruce would finish his playing career for the Hokies.

Chris decided she'd go to law school after scoring well on the LSAT test in Bruce's last year of playing football and then he'd pursue physical therapy like he always wanted, right?

"He didn't even tell me he was going to be a coach," Chris said. "I think I was a little naïve."

Before Chris could enroll in any of the law schools she applied to in Virginia, the staff at Virginia Tech, where Bruce was now coaching, was let go and Chris became pregnant with their first child, Jake. It was off to Alabama then, where Bruce would work under legendary head coach Bear Bryant. Chris started law school at the University of Alabama before then having to transfer because Bruce got his first head coaching job at Temple University. She'd graduate from there.

Head spinning, yet?

Not only did Chris go to two different law schools, she'd also end up taking the bar in four different states and practicing family law while juggling two kids and a husband with an incredibly demanding schedule. Every day she was exhausted by the time she got the kids to bed and it didn't go unnoticed by Bruce.

At one point, when their youngest, Kristi, went to Kindergarten, Chris says she brought up the possibility of having another baby, which was met with horror, as she describes it, from Bruce.

"I feel so guilty now, I don't have any guilt leftover for a third child," he admitted, knowing how much he was missing out on and the burden he was placing on Chris.

If his proposal was indirectly romantic, that statement may just be indirectly responsible for a major part of his coaching philosophy.

"If you miss a football game, a recital, anything to do with your children, I'll fire you."

Bruce has said it to every staff he's led. He's not the coach that believes in the long hours because that's how it's always been done. Put the work in, yes. Do your job, yes. But never put it ahead of your family. A luxury perhaps he wishes he was afforded more throughout his career.

In the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LV, with the Bucs not only comfortably in the lead but comfortably in control of the game, Kristi turned to her mom as they watched from a suite, hugged her and said, "This win is for you and me and Jake."

"Because, you know, the kids sacrifice," said Chris. "We all sacrificed to get him where he was and that choked me up."

But even through the non-confetti'd times, like when Bruce was making $15,000 a year at his first job, or when other jobs didn't pan out as he'd hoped, or Chris was packing up and moving the family yet again, one thing she has never, ever doubted was his love for her.

"One time I said to him, I think we've missed so much babe," Chris recalled. "People ask me where I consider home, which is a hard question to answer. How would you answer that?

"He said, I would say home is wherever you are."

Bruce Arians: indirect romantic.

"I'm pretty sure that Super Bowl was the last thing on my bucket list," said Chris of watching her husband finally win an NFL championship as a head coach at 68 years old. "This was the thing that was there in the background our whole lives. That's something Bruce and I have been aiming for… for 50 years.

"Winning the Super Bowl after all these years, that doesn't happen very often. Not too many people make it to 50, either."

Well, Chris and Bruce Arians did both.

Sometimes the best things in life come to those who wait.

Chris and Bruce will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in their favorite place this weekend with their favorite people in attendance. Congratulations to the happy couple!