19 Years & Counting

I’ve been waiting a long time to write this blog—nineteen years to be exact. Today my late bloomer husband and I celebrate our 19^th wedding anniversary. Almost to the exact hour 19 years ago we said our “I dos.”

It was the second marriage for both of us, and with my terminal illness, neither of us knew how many years of wedded bliss we would have. Charles reminds me that “love is deaf, dumb, and blind.”  In spite of the obstacles we both believed that God brought us together and so we chose to trust Him with our future. 

To celebrate we attended the Barry Manilow “One Last Time” concert last week. What a show and what a showman. He sang everything from his forty year music library. I have to admit that I expected his voice to not be as strong as it used to be.  Boy was I wrong; he hit all the right notes and never missed a beat.  He definitely “writes the songs that make the whole world sing.”

The next day we took time to smell the roses at Gibbs Gardens in Ball Ground, GA.  One thousand red and white knock out rose bushes were still at their peak. Their fragrance filled the air as we walked along the winding paths. It reminded me of June 1998 when we went to another garden five weeks after my liver transplant. With my limited stamina, I made the effort to walk a few hundred feet and sit on a bench. We were both determined to get out of the house and do something for our anniversary. I am blessed today to live a very normal life today.

A few months ago, our nine year old granddaughter, Belle, drew this picture of Charles and me for Grandparents’ Day. She copied it from a family photograph. I guess this is what anniversaries are all about. 

  

The Bible offers words of wisdom on how to keep a marriage strong in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never ends.”

During our marriage ceremony, we played the song; “Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be. God bless our love.” Those words still ring true today.