A Bittersweet Anniversary

Laura and I will celebrate our 27th anniversary tomorrow.  It is strange because Laura is already celebrating it because she is in London and it is already December 31 in jolly old England.  It will be a bittersweet anniversary because this will be our first one apart.  It has given me time to reflect back on Laura and our marriage, all 27 years of it.  

I don't know about you, but I thought I would never find another person who would understand me.  Growing up my friend circle was always very small.  I was so insecure I did not want to let anyone get too close because I was afraid they would not like the "real" me.  Therefore I never let anyone get to close and there was no possibility I would ever have a "soul mate."  Thankfully God knew better.  Our first date was anything but ideal.  On most accounts it was a complete disaster.  Laura spent the entire evening running away with her friend only to pop up again just before I was ready to leave.  She was as beautiful a girl as I had ever seen and I desperately wanted to get to know her.  I had all but given up hope when she invited me back to her sister's apartment with her, her sister, and her friend.  We sat on a couch and talked all the way through the night.  We literally talked the whole night!  I know I did not want to leave and I did not want that night to ever stop.  We connected in a way that I cannot explain, other than God working in both of us.  We were both baby Christians and very immature for our age.  Our conversation was somewhat shallow but a bond was formed that held me tightly to Laura.  It both exhilarated me and scared the crap out of me at the same time.  When morning came and I had to leave, I did not want to.  I was afraid that this was some sort of "Twilight Zone" moment that I did not experience in reality and when I left it would disappear and Laura would not want to see me again.  I drove back to Oklahoma clinging to a memory and hoping it all wasn't a dream.  I almost burst when I called her later that day and she remembered me!  We picked up right where we had before, talking as if we were the only two people in the entire world.  As far as I was concerned we were.  

We talked on the phone every night that week for hours each time.  I kept thinking that at some point this fantasy would be over and someone would say the charade was over, but no one did.  I admit that Laura was the only thing I thought about.  I wanted to be with her every moment of every day.  We scheduled our first date without a friend for Friday.  I am sure I drove the fastest I have ever driven on my way from OKC to Fort Worth.  The trip was excruciating.  Time could not go by fast enough.  Until I saw her again, a part of me still thought this was a dream.  I drank in the time with her like a fish in water, it was like I was alive for the very first time.  Our time together that weekend led to her famous proposition of her asking me to marry her!  I know everyone in the world thought that we were crazy for getting engaged one week after our first date!(Although you could argue that our first real date was just one day prior to our engagement!). Us committing to be together for the rest of our lives only seemed natural to me.  You were the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.  I knew that beyond the shadow of a doubt.  It wasn't a feeling, it was a connection we had that turned into a commitment.  A blessed commitment that has now taken us through 27 years!  27 incredibly blessed years!

Our journey together has taken us on a lot of strange moments.  Spending this day apart is one of those.  I did not think much about it beforehand and the emotion of it has quite taken me by surprise.  This melancholy feeling makes me think more of you and how much I love and admire you.  You are simply the best person I know.  I have never seen a more compasionate, kind, caring person.  Everyone who knows you knows it is true.  Everyone who even gets to know you a little loves you.  You put others above yourself like no one else.  You are sensitive to the needs of others and most importantly, sensitive to God.  Your passion for Jesus is awe inspiring.  You have taught me so much about what it means to love; to really love in a self-sacrificial way.  Thankfully you are not perfect because I could not live with perfection(having so many imperfections myself), but you are as close to perfect as any man could ever hope his wife to be.  My hope is to be half the man you think I am because you deserve no less.  And even though we apart in space and time for this anniversary, you could never be closer in my heart.  I love you my dear Laura, you are the best of everything I could ever have hoped for in a wife.  Happy Anniversary Darling!!!