Time of My Life

Yesterday was my 27th wedding anniversary.

• 29 years ago this October (1985) I had my first real conversation with her
• In November I had my first date with her
• In December I received my first rejection from her.
• On my 22nd birthday in January ’86 I had a glimmer of hope that she might like me as she took me out for lunch to a Chinese restaurant and gave me a birthday card, which I still have.
• In March she sat on the steps of Wannamaker dorm with me and we talked for hours about our lives and dreams.  It was there that she first learned about how I adore my father.
• In April she would console me on our loss in the NCAA Finals by decorating my room to welcome me back (she climbed through my open window to gain access).  That day I would hold her hand for the first time as we walked across the quad.
• In May she met my parents for the first time and I met hers.  (I hit it off immediately with my father-in-law; my mother-in-law was a little different.  She saw me as a playboy and wanted to protect her daughter from the likes of me.  My, I miss them…)  Later we sat next to each other at the graduation ceremony in Wallace Wade Stadium listening but not listening to Lee Iacocca, after which we celebrated each other at the baccalaureate at Duke Chapel.

  

• In July I visited her and her family for the first time in Pittsburgh.  She and I went to Jazz on the Lawn and there I would hold her and be there for her as she dealt with devastating news.  Together.
• In August 1986, 11 months after our first real conversation, I nervously traveled to Philadelphia and in cornball fashion, read a poem from a book and asked her to spend the rest of her life with me.  She said yes.
• In December she would spend Christmas with me and give me a night stand.  She lugged it all the way from Philadelphia.  I had to put it together.  But my furniture-less apartment needed something, and my practical miss knew exactly what that was.  I kept that nightstand until we had no room for it in our existing home.
• On June 8th I finally moved to Philadelphia into a townhouse on Township Line Road.  It would become our first home together.
• One week later on June 20, 1987, 21 months after our first real conversation she would say “I do” and forever grace my life with love.

Proverbs 18:22 says,

He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord.

I have learned over these past 27 years that this is not a cause and effect verse, where a man obtains favor because he has found a wife.  No.  What I have learned is that the favor that a man receives from God is the finding of a wife.  I have found what is good, and in it, found favor from the Lord.  Our life together has not been perfect.  God knows the pain and struggles that we have had together.  But it has been together.  She has made my life so worth living.  From our love has come three remarkable young men whom I adore.  And as the years have gone by, I have grown to love her more and more. Yesterday we celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary.  As I sat watching her enjoy Motown the Musical (#MotownMusical) my heart was overwhelmed.  God has graced me with someone whom I not only cherish, but excitedly look forward to growing old with.  I’m blessed. Thank you Lord for Shelly.