The two trees in this picture are like my husband and I. The years have been filled with wonder, amazement, gladness, joy, bitter disappointments, sorrow, sadness; but like the trees we have stood side by side weathering the winds and storms of life.
Thirty-two years ago this July, my husband begin to court me. Hurricane Frederick had brought him from Houston to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I met him in the lobby of my office building. I worked for a defense contractor who built naval vessels. All contractors without a security clearance had to be escorted to their destination. I was that escort and his final destination.
He claims that it was love at first sight but after two bad marriages to his vietnamese bride he was wary and cautious. He was also wild at thirty and new that it was not a good time to be serious. The next several months completely frustrated me. I knew that he was attracted to me but he would not ask me for a date. The next seven to eight months he would travel to Mississippi many times trying to undo the damage the hurricane had done to our computer system.
Finally, in July of 1980 he asked me for our first date. He wined me and dined me at The Pillars in Mobile, Alabama. He opened the doors for me, asked what I wanted from the menu and ordered for me, he chose the wine, he pulled out my chair, rose when I left the table and rose when I returned. He did not kiss me on our first date. He spent the next four months flying me back and forth from Houston and sometimes to save money he would drive to Mississippi. We spent a weekend in New Orleans and our first kiss was overlooking the Mississippi River on a bench near the Cafe DuMonde. It was in the evening and someone was playing a mournful saxophone down on the river bank. It was magical. Despite the temptation between both of us he refused to have sex until we were married. Neither of us were virgins but we wanted this to be right. When he left from Moissant Airport to return to Houston he started for his gate and then turned back to me and told me that he loved me and walked away not giving me a chance to respond. It was our second date. I had two hours to think about that on my drive back to work. There were no cell phones in 1980. By the time I returned to my office I had analyzed the data and realized this man was everything I had ever asked God for and longed for in my heart and that if I didn't love him, well I was crazy. When I got to work I called his office and I told him I loved him.
In October he proposed to me at D'Amico's Italian Restaurant which was a lovely delicate place with tiny tables and fine linens and wonderful lighting. We were married November 17, 1980 and spent our honeymoon at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. On the way back home we stopped and packed my meager belongings in the back of a tiny u-haul trailer. We made it back to Houston with just enough money to pay the parking on his car at Hobby Airport and were so relieved that the airport was closed down due to fog. All the gates were up and his parking was free!!!! So, we had some money to live on till he got paid! It was a wonderul courtship and romance and it has continued for almost 32 years.
We have laughed and played. Cried and fought and made up. We've known the bitter pill of being unable to conceive and the sorrow of a family adoption that turned into sour bile in our throats and heart.
Through all life's quirks it has been a wonderful journey. I thank God everyday for the goodness He delivered to me in the form of my beloved husband. Courtship, romance, love and marriage are things that exist in real life. I beseeched the throne of Heaven for a man after God's own heart. God heard my prayers and then set about answering them.
When I see the advertisement for Christian Mingle . com -- I think to myself -- get off the internet and get on your knees real love is born in the heart of God and He really does care that you seek His face and wait for His choice in mates.
We grow older day by day and fight to hold on to youth, beauty and health just like everyone else but the greatest thing of all is that we still are madly in love, accept the changes that come with age and look for an eternity working together.
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