How do I love thee?
Let me count thy ways.
Elizabeth Barret Browning
For twenty-seven years, we’ve been counting, appreciating, and naming our blessings each and every one that David and I have shared together as husband and wife.
Not taking for granted what God has joined together in holy matrimony twenty-seven years ago this October.
But when the “unexpected” attacks from the back door of your heart, you run and retreat to the arms of Jesus in Thanksgiving for another day, appreciating and counting our blessings,
How do I love thee?
Let me count thy ways.
Elizabeth Barret Browning
David and I are simple people.
We don’t require much but don’t mind telling the world how much we need each other; especially if the reasons we love each other in the simple ways that we do are the reasons we’re still together twenty-seven years later from our wedding day.
David and I can be seen wherever we go, still holding hands after all these years.
We take the long way home whenever we can to enjoy the beauty of God’s country and the company we keep together.
So easy to please yet full of adventure, we’ve discovered God’s hidden treasures in each other over a cup of coffee,
And a bicycle ride around the block.
Gifts are rarely purchased as the only present we unwrap each year is a secluded anniversary getaway to our honeymoon cottage by the lake; a weekend of remembering, celebrating, and dreaming most responsible for our genuine love for one another.
All because two people fell in love and blended their lives as one family, our love is celebrated in the marriages of our children, with one still waiting her turn to walk the wedding isle, rejoicing over the son and two daughters we’ve added to the family Bible in these Godly unions.
Ten beautiful grandchildren call us Papa and Gaga and our joy explodes on the pages of our legacy we pass down to them.
Our most memorable summer highlights are best made at the little field, with sluggers and cheerleaders emptying Papa’s pockets at the concession stand for bags of buttered popcorn, hot dogs and sticky ring pops.
David puts no limit on tulle, glitter or glam in our house; shrugging off being teased for the sparkle that follows him to work.
On weekends David makes up our bed of a million pillows without any sign of an eye roll.
David is no stranger to dishes or laundry either.
He seriously serves me without being asked;
David is celebrated man of the year, every day of the year in our house.
For twenty-seven years David has been my personal mechanic. He has taken engines down to the bare nothing and put them back together again like a magician. We have never driven fancy cars or new cars either. David has traded in his Chevelle SS dreams for older wheels and freedom without payments and complaints.
Our best dates are spent driving the back roads in search of our dream house, a log cabin wrapped with a big red bow and a gift tag reminding us, “With God, all things are possible.”
David has served my mother and husband Roger in the best of times, and when death darkened their door for years; earned every Boy Scout badge imaginable.
I am reminded on a daily basis how beautiful I am in David’s eyes, regardless of all the extras I see in my mirrors reflection.
David encourages my dreams and we could never imagine one without the other.
Our only wish would have been to meet each other years ago, but remain eternally thankful for the twenty-seven years we’ve enjoyed together and counting.
While our international passport is empty of any travel stamps,
David and I have taken incredible adventures with God around the world, each requiring great leaps of faith.
While our bank account balance might say otherwise, David and I are rich in ways and love money could never afford.
Home is wherever we are together.
We live each day believing in the power of prayer.
Our love for Christ is the rich legacy we pass to the next generation; the same legacy river which flowed down to us.
David and I are simple people.
We don’t require much but don’t mind telling the world how much we need each other; especially if the reasons we love each other in the simple ways that we do are the reasons we’re still together twenty-seven years later from our wedding day.
A day we’d do over and over again.
