Happy Anniversary

Today's blog is a escape from last week's drama.  This is a love story of sorts, an honest account from my heart.  No sugar coating, just the real story.   So bear with me as I pay tribute to the man who gave me much more than a wedding ring and memories.  This is my thank you to my late husband who offered me the chance to live the dream, blessed me with the greatest joy I could ever have and the opportunity to begin again 26 years later.  

I'd been a career type girl you see, dated, played the field of sorts and enjoyed my life.  I was a hard working single woman, had a decent job and plenty of friends both male and female.  I wasn't too interested in getting married, I was self sufficient and completely at peace with my life.  I had just bought myself a small condo and was going to enjoy decorating it (something I love to do), settle in and wait for the next shoe to drop.  It did when one afternoon I needed to stretch, take a break and check on my team.  I don't normally drink coffee past 10am but that fateful day, I was desperate for a cuppa joe.  John was on the phone with a guy in my office.  They were reserve sheriff deputies together and I guess fixing a meeting schedule.  Something funny was said as I walked through the room and John asked Cliff if I was single.  One thing lead to another as it always does, and I was suddenly on speaker phone with him.  I guess looking back, I asked him out.  I had never asked a man out before but this afternoon I did.  We went out a couple of weeks later and never looked back.

John had been living with me in my condo when we found out we were going to have our little blessing, our bundle of joy.  I was not about to walk down the aisle looking 8 months gone so we quietly arranged a small wedding and there I was all the sudden married, a ring on my finger and decorating a baby's room.  Funny the path life takes, God's will of course and the dedication it took to hold our little family together through thick and thin. 

We went on for the next 19 years.  Marriage is no picnic, not a bed of roses or the sweet story we see in the movies.  It's takes hard work, dedication to a goal and a basic like and respect for one another.  We were friends who created a family together.  We were happy and content with life being what it was.  I did then and still now have a huge amount of respect for this smart, decent, funny and caring man.  Sadly neither of us really appreciated each other.  We were two very different people with different likes and dislikes. As it turned out, we weren't really that match made in heaven but we made it work.  We were friends.

When we found out John had pancreatic cancer, we were devastated, more for our daughter than us.  We had lived the seasons of our life together and this was our final season. Ten months from diagnosis date, John died. All day that last day, he had been looking in the corner above the Yankees clock, reaching for something that we couldn't see.  I was asleep on the couch next to his hospital bed, when he woke me up somehow.  He wanted to tell me he was leaving; woke Kristina as well.  He was still looking in that corner with outstretched arms.  At the end of his life, he had accepted Christ.  I like to hope it was Jesus's hand he took for the final journey home.  

Kristina and I have moved on now.  We are best friends, which is what her dad wanted. Life has changed in so many ways but the constants stay the same.  We miss him, his jokes, snide comments and love for the New York Yankees.  He'd be surprised I've been retired for 6 years,  living in Idaho and would enjoy talking planes and flight with Kristina's boyfriend Michael.  He would be teasing me for being a Seahawks fan, my love for the Dodgers and be complaining about my preference to like the house neat and clean.  We know however,  he's in his eternal home and at peace.   That's the blessing for us to hang on to.  So Happy Anniversary to you my friend and thank you for the life you gave and continue to give today.  XXOO

~For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven~                                       Ecclesiastes 3:1