We went to Bo-Lee for dinner to celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary a while ago. We got married a little after seven in the evening; guess that makes it official now. Lucy posted this same picture as a Facebook entry earlier, a snapshot in time as we’d only been married a few minutes earlier and were going to meet with all our friends at the wedding reception they’d prepared for us.
How do you explain thirty eight years of shared experiences? I don’t think you can. We started off with a laugh the very first day on our honeymoon. Lucy’s watch quit working and we thought it was about 9 or so in the morning. We went downstairs at the Hotel Galvez restaurant to have breakfast. The waiter explained how they only had a lunch menu since it was after one in the afternoon; then threw out, “are you here on your honeymoon?”, smiling at two people who had no cares, much less what time it was.
I could mention how I had to ask “what was that” the first time Lucy cooked steak; a real mistake. I could bring up the time Lucy accidentally spilled a tin containing sewing pins on the floor, how I was helping pick them up when she thought it would be fun to stick me with one of them; I let her pick the rest up by herself.
A great date might be flying off to Chicago to take in a Cubs game at Wrigley Field or going to locksmith convention and a ride on one of those paddle boats on the Mississippi River where we first enjoyed the thrill of pulling a handle on a slot machine.
We’ve slept out under the stars and listened to a bear explain how it was his lake and that we should get inside the camper for the rest of the night. We warmed our feet with large stones which we’d placed around the campfire, wrapped them in bath towels to place inside the camper only to have them catch fire. There was the coin operated shower at one of national parks, the one which had three settings; boiling hot, scorch and pure steam; that was fun.
I could talk about the time Lucy called to meet her at the hospital when Bonnie’s fever spiked so high it worried even the doctors. Maybe the time Jennifer came home from the mall with her ears pierced only to have one earring come out. It was too painful to replace, the tissue inflamed so as to close off any chance of restoring the sharp metal post and the tears falling because all her friends would call her a freak the next day at school. William has given us a few thrills, maybe the time he had all those ant bites that made him swell up so bad. Being a parent is so much a part of being married all these years.
I’m so grateful for the Elder’s Quorum lesson I got to hear so many years ago, not long after joining the Church. That half hour was spent explaining the importance of “date night” each week, making sure to court your sweetheart as if she might still be undecided in your favor; that’s a sobering thought that should keep us humble.
There’s an image permanently etched in my mind, Lucy standing next to me in one of the Sealing Rooms at the temple in Salt Lake City as we looked at the never ending reflections before us, the mirror in front followed by the mirror behind as it led us into the eternities together hand in hand. I wonder how I’m so fortunate to have my soul mate fill in my weakness with strength and happiness and then I realize; my Father in Heaven knew exactly who was meant for me and I simply acknowledge His great plan.
How do you explain thirty eight years of shared experiences? I don’t think you can. We started off with a laugh the very first day on our honeymoon. Lucy’s watch quit working and we thought it was about 9 or so in the morning. We went downstairs at the Hotel Galvez restaurant to have breakfast. The waiter explained how they only had a lunch menu since it was after one in the afternoon; then threw out, “are you here on your honeymoon?”, smiling at two people who had no cares, much less what time it was.
I could mention how I had to ask “what was that” the first time Lucy cooked steak; a real mistake. I could bring up the time Lucy accidentally spilled a tin containing sewing pins on the floor, how I was helping pick them up when she thought it would be fun to stick me with one of them; I let her pick the rest up by herself.
A great date might be flying off to Chicago to take in a Cubs game at Wrigley Field or going to locksmith convention and a ride on one of those paddle boats on the Mississippi River where we first enjoyed the thrill of pulling a handle on a slot machine.
We’ve slept out under the stars and listened to a bear explain how it was his lake and that we should get inside the camper for the rest of the night. We warmed our feet with large stones which we’d placed around the campfire, wrapped them in bath towels to place inside the camper only to have them catch fire. There was the coin operated shower at one of national parks, the one which had three settings; boiling hot, scorch and pure steam; that was fun.
I could talk about the time Lucy called to meet her at the hospital when Bonnie’s fever spiked so high it worried even the doctors. Maybe the time Jennifer came home from the mall with her ears pierced only to have one earring come out. It was too painful to replace, the tissue inflamed so as to close off any chance of restoring the sharp metal post and the tears falling because all her friends would call her a freak the next day at school. William has given us a few thrills, maybe the time he had all those ant bites that made him swell up so bad. Being a parent is so much a part of being married all these years.
I’m so grateful for the Elder’s Quorum lesson I got to hear so many years ago, not long after joining the Church. That half hour was spent explaining the importance of “date night” each week, making sure to court your sweetheart as if she might still be undecided in your favor; that’s a sobering thought that should keep us humble.
There’s an image permanently etched in my mind, Lucy standing next to me in one of the Sealing Rooms at the temple in Salt Lake City as we looked at the never ending reflections before us, the mirror in front followed by the mirror behind as it led us into the eternities together hand in hand. I wonder how I’m so fortunate to have my soul mate fill in my weakness with strength and happiness and then I realize; my Father in Heaven knew exactly who was meant for me and I simply acknowledge His great plan.
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