Happy Anniversary!

Thirty-five years ago today Mary and I had no way of knowing that we would be living in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Coral Springs, Florida, Arvada, Colorado, Westminster, Colorado, Flagstaff, Arizona, Omaha, Nebraska, Burwell, Nebraska, Oakland, Nebraska, and finally Las Vegas, Nevada. While we anticipated that Mary wanted to teach, neither of us expected that on my way to the ministry I would work for Coca-Cola, New York Life, Team Electronics, Denver Dry Goods Company, L.R.S. construction, Western Federal Savings, Edgewater Police Department, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, and after a fifteen year stint with the United Methodist Church end up at the Clark County District Attorney’s Family Support Division.

We didn’t know that Mary’s father, Bill James, would die months before Rachel’s birth. We didn’t know that we would be blessed with a second daughter, Rebecca, while serving Trinity Heights United Methodist Church in Flagstaff. We didn’t know that my father would divorce my mother and essentially leave Rachel and Rebecca without any grandfather. We didn’t know that we would manage to travel from coast to coast, that we would endure Watergate, the Iran-Contra scandal, the Clinton impeachment, and now suffer the immorality of the Bush Administration. We didn’t know that Rachel would graduate Magna Cum Laude from Northern Arizona University and marry her soul mate one week later. We didn’t know that Rebecca would take her own unique journey to destinations as yet unknown, expanding our world through her adventures.

What we did know was that we loved each other, and that truth has been borne out over the years by the fact that we still do. There really isn’t a rational explanation for what we discovered in each other so many years ago; suffice it to say that it was genuine. How it is possible for me to love Mary more each day I do not know, I just know that I do. As I expressed at Rachel and Steve’s wedding, Mary and I invited God to sanctify our marriage that Sunday in Lincoln, Nebraska, and God has remained the intimate, living bond between us that has brought us to this day, and will abide with us for as long as we don’t fail to revere the One that unites us. Thank you, Mary, for loving me, for befriending me, and for being my partner on this journey of the unexpected.

PS
There are some pictures of Rachel and Steve’s wedding at the ‘photos’ link. I’ll be adding to them as I have the time.