Today Kathy and I are celebrating 36 wonderful years of marriage. The big event on the weekend of our wedding 36 years ago was the resignation of President Richard Nixon on our rehearsal evening and then his leaving the White House with his family on the day of our wedding. There are a lot of highlights that are vivid memories, but there is also a lot of time in which I do not recollect much. This kind of reminds of the story of the two retired guys who are talking and one says to the other, "I couldn't help but notice that you call your wife 'sweety', 'baby doll', 'sugar', and other romantic names. How have you kept that much romance in your marriage all these years? The other guy turns to him and says, 'actually, I forgot her name about 10 years ago and I've been too embarrassed to ask her what it is."
Well, for us, it's not that bad. We have many wonderful memories that we recall. We've been so blessed. One of the biggest blessings has been our unified desire to serve God full time, anywhere, anytime. We've had some great adventures, and both of us have seen our experiences as adventures in helping to build God's kingdoms. We've had the blessing of raising six children, three birth children that are now grown and all involved in full time ministry, and three teenagers still at home that bring both great joy and present interesting challenges. We look back at some great ministry successes and people that we've had the pleasure of mentoring and guiding into successful ministry and other careers.
As I think about today, however, I think the greatest blessing for me is the love that Kathy and I share. I love her so much. She is my best friend and confidant. I love her laugh, and the way she brightens up a room. Of the two of us, she is the "people person" and I enjoy watching her be with people. I love the fact that after we've been with a group of people I get to go home with her. 36 years is a lot, particularly in our present society, but for us it is another signpost on a lifetime commitment that we agreed to, just about at this time, 36 years ago. Now we're older, hopefully wiser, and ready for the next adventure, together.
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