Fifty-two Years!

Today we celebrate fifty-two years of married life! We've actually been together (we started dating when I was fifteen and Forry was seventeen) and friends for fifty-five years.


It dawned on me a couple of days ago how fortunate we were when Forry asked me a facetious question. I responded to him and started to laugh. We both ended up laughing so hard I wasn't sure whether I was going to cry or pee my pants! To live with someone so long -- and for the last almost four years in the confined space of a motor home -- and to still be friends is truly a blessing.


We've had some wonderful times together. We've raised three very interesting and delightful children that we are proud to enjoy as adults. They've given us the delights of our lives -- five spectacular grand-children! We've enjoyed the loving embrace of our Savior and a truly caring church family, both locally and in the wider Mennonite Church. We've been blessed with long married parents on both sides that set an example. I had a mother-in-love who taught me how to love the new sons my daughters brought home. We were able to care for aging parents -- and to give special thanks to my elder Sis for her care of our mother.


We've had our share of tough times and troubles. The early tragic death of Forry's brother Melvin shortly after we were married; a hyper-active son with autism; the vagaries of both dryland and irrigated farming; career dynamics and upsets; aging parents; but, those are not the things that first come to mind when I think about our lives together.


I think about the blessing of having a husband who carried on at home when I commuted to school -- for four years while I got my BSN, then for almost three more while I traipsed back and forth to Denver for my Masters. About a guy whose ego was such that he could support and cheer my various undertakings.


We are both incredibly curious -- probably one of the reasons we enjoy RVing -- and love to travel, explore and learn. We've survived tent camping, an early trailer (including a six week trip through Mexico with two young children), multiple airplanes (flights in a small plane through central America) and a sail boat.


We've made some great friends over the years and count it a blessing to have such things as the Internet and Facebook to keep us in contact with each other and up-to-date on each other's lives. (I started off today by reading a lovely anniversary note from friends we had made in California while working on their house for Mennonite Disaster Service.) We'll be going out to dinner later this evening with a friend from our Spokane days and his lovely wife who has also become a very special friend. When we get back to Spokane, we'll have an evening get-together with former AHEC colleagues and when we're in Pittsburgh in July we'll hook up with great friends we've met through RVing. Siblings are a special part of those friendships -- thank goodness for those nice long telephone calls as we commiserate with each other about growing old and bragging about our grands!


Thinking about it makes be realize we have been truly blessed. And makes me wonder what the future will bring?