47 Years!

Forty-seven years ago today I married my best friend. Wow. How did the time go so fast? And yes, sometimes I feel my age and I know where it went! And sometimes life is great, and I hope we have many more years ahead of us on this earth.

Of course, a lot of life is lived in forty-seven years, and I couldn’t begin to list everything we’ve seen and done. Like everyone, we’ve had our share of good times and struggles. Life can be a lot of fun, but it can also be truly hard, and I’m so grateful that we’ve weathered whatever we’ve faced together and with the Lord Jesus holding us up and carrying us through.

When I travel down memory lane, I see so many faces of people who have come and gone in our lives. Loved ones who are no longer near either because one of us have moved or they’ve moved on to heaven. Friends who are life-long and dear to us. Gratitude for all of the little things.

We had the joys of birthing three sons and raising them with as much love as we could give.

We traveled a lot as a family and just the two of us. I think we visited nearly every state in the union minus the east coast. But we’ve only needed our passports once on our trip to Israel in 2008. I think that was my favorite trip ever.

We spent our honeymoon in part at Disney World and went back with our kids a few times later. We spent our fortieth anniversary there and if the Lord tarries, I have a slight desire to return for our fiftieth. But a lot can happen in three years.

We’ve moved three times, and I hope this one is our last, but only God knows the answer to that question. We’ve welcomed daughters-in-law and grandchildren and “parented” five cats, if you could call it that. I have a feeling we’re just the caretakers, but in truth, all of our cats were as loving as any dog I’ve ever met, so maybe they really are like “kids”.

We are opposites in many ways – he loves cars and I love books. He loves working with or teaching kids. I would rather teach adult women. He enjoys the quiet. I play music all day long. (He adjusts.) He’s very left-brained, my engineer (who owned a motorcycle when we met). I’m very right-brained and not quite so adventurous as I used to be…maybe.

But we both agree on the big things like our faith, how we wanted to raise our kids, where we wanted to attend church, how we cared for our families, what values we both held dear. Those things continue as we age together and we both look at this life as temporary. We’re sojourners just passing through on our way to our real life one day with Jesus for eternity.

I remember when we were young, I wanted to experience certain things in life before I died or Jesus returned. Now, I still have a lot of things I’d love to experience in this life, but to be with Christ is far better. Perhaps that comes with the wisdom (or aches and pains?) of aging.

I know that there are still things God has for us to do here, so I know we will continue to live together to fulfill them until He calls us home. We’re looking forward to that blessed hope of the Rapture, which I will talk about in a future post. I haven’t forgotten. I just couldn’t post for a few days while my website was under maintenance.

And today was a more fitting day to look back and remember the day my dad walked me down the aisle and we both said, “I do.” “For better or worse, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, for as long as we both shall live.”

And we still do.

~Selah