I was in the flower shop yesterday (that is a surprise all its own) when someone asked me how many years of marriage we are celebrating. I said, “47.” She said “Wow! Good for you! We are celebrating 33. We started late.”  People have a hard time believing we are celebrating 47 years because I look no older than 50.  I can see the wheels in their head turning ’round and ’round as they try to do the math. 🙂  So I save them the brain drain and tell them I am really 67, my bride is 69 and we were married while in college.

I met Jo when we were Freshmen in college. She had stayed out a year to work and not study. She had her roommates who became friends; I had complex mates who became friends. Lo, and behold, my friends hung with hers and we became friends.  We did really stupid stuff back then (like crawling through bat guano when we were crawling through caves) but we were young and adventurous.  She really didn’t like me when we first met. Said I was arrogant. Who me? Just because I was a starting Freshman on the basketball team? I didn’t think I was then…but I guess I was. Eventually, my charm won her over and we went out on a date. We went to another town to see the movie Love Story and man was it quiet in the car. She didn’t talk much. I thought she didn’t want to be with me and actually wished she was out with another guy. Come to find out she was sort of shy and didn’t really talk all that much. Oh…how times have changed! But I digress.

Eventually our sophomore year we started dating and except for a break-up by her (twice)  we have been together since.  Our original date to get married was August 18 but the school (where I was working for the summer) threw us a curve ball so we had to move the date to June 16th against the wishes of both our parents. It was either that or be unemployed two weeks from the end of school. We had all our invitations printed when the school told me I didn’t have a job since I would be single and they weren’t hiring single people that summer. So we scrambled to put together a wedding in less than 2 months. She said we could put a notice in the invitations that said “due to unforeseen circumstances we have had to move the date of the wedding.” I said, “I don’t think that would be the best thing to say.” 🙂 She agreed. Anyway, we got married. I had to have my parent’s permission since Ohio required the parties be 21. My father-in-law never let me live that one down.

Wives of ministerial students were tuition-free so that was one reason we didn’t wait until after graduation.  We lived in a too small trailer (I broke every light fixture as I walked through it)  that was moved and the add-on was not even connected to the trailer. We could see ground in the Spring, Summer and Fall and snow in the winter! And that add-on was our bedroom! We were poor college students but that trailer was our home. We loved each other deeply and still do to this day. We have had our tough times like all marriages do. I was way too married to my job. Tragically, I found a lot of my identity there.  On June 3,1975 Tami came along and at one time wondered why she was not in our wedding pictures. 🙂 On August 23, 1979 Janna was born. They were to the two best events that ever happened to me (other than Jo).  Janna gave us Braden on October 17, 2006. That was the next best thing, although I didn’t have anything to do with that!

My life has been full. It has been an adventure (My personal motto is “Live the Adventure”) and I have God to thank for that. He has been involved in my life since I was a child; personally when I came to know Him at the ripe old age of 8; and He has led me through the highs and lows. Jo has been one of the highs and I am forever grateful God brought us together. Life is much different these days. She is retired and prefers to spend her days either at home watching TV or relaxing, or driving all over creation.  If she had her druthers we would live a whole lot closer to Janna and Braden, but she never balked at where we lived and loves the people here in Spencer. Tami lives here in Spencer and teaches in Bloomington. We have found our most satisfying ministry here, and she has been allowed to be herself. I still work full-time as the pastor of people I deeply love.

We found out in the middle of last week that Braden plays his first baseball game tonight (Tuesday) so since I was already planning on taking the day off I surprised her by suggesting we go and watch him play ball, spend the night in Ohio, take him to breakfast (IHOP) and then head home. Yeah, I had to twist her arm for that one. So we head off shortly for what we hope will be a delightful drive and time with Janna and Braden. He is the light of both our lives and keeps us laughing. We want to take advantage of that before he sees his grandparents as too old to be bothered with or acknowledged.

So…thank you love (I call her Honey) for 47 years. My prayer is that we will be see that magical number of 50 together. Sorry this is so long, but I was writing about someone I love. Oh…I could have gone on for much longer.  But I’ll spare you for now. 🙂