Our Most Important Anniversary

Every year in early April, I have to reset the password on my nearly defunct Yahoo address in order to get in and search for a certain email. It's from the previous associate pastor at our church in Wisconsin. He emailed a few of the young adults who were attending WFBUMC at the time. With four different services, we were all missing each other and he wanted to start a fellowship group for us. He invited us to dinner at a local restaurant and I decided I would go. I hadn't been to church in a few weeks, and I remember my Mom chiding me, that I wasn't really committing to that church, why should I show up to dinner??

Why, indeed?

I met my husband on April 8th, 2011. I have no idea what my life might have looked like if I hadn't gone to that dinner. Perhaps I would have pursued passions like cooking and agriculture more intensely, but I would have missed out to the amazing journey of getting married, meeting our son and discerning my call to ministry. I"m not sure God would have called me to ministry without Brian by my side. He and I are so much better than we are apart.

A good friend came over for wine and cheese straws a few weeks ago, and she and I chatted upstairs while Brian worked down in the garage. A little while later, he bounded up the stairs, holding his hand, heading for the kitchen sink. He had a small accident in the shop, nothing more serious than a band-aid wouldn't fix, but there was a lot of blood and Brian felt a bit woozy. He decided to sit with us awhile, and I noticed his face was rather white, so I fixed him a plate of crackers and a tall glass of water, refilling it when I saw he was done. When he was feeling better, he went back down to clean up. Once had left, my friend turned to me and said "You're so glad for each other. You're so good to each other."

I don't like to brag, but it was a matter of fact statement. We are good to each other. We both spent enough time in relationships that were not good. We had experience being unkind relationship partners. We knew what emotional distance felt like. We knew what that low laying unhappiness felt like, how it creeps up on you and settles into your life. We knew we weren't going to do that again. So we are good to each other. On purpose. It takes effort beyond being well matched.

Four years later, I'm so grateful for Brian, for our family, for our extended families, for our relationship which we consistently put first.