Happy Anniversary!

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Thirty-six years is a pretty long time. 

When I was thirty-six I had an eight-year-old and a six-year-old. I had a nice job and a beautiful new house. I still felt like I had a long full life ahead of me. And I did. 

Now, twenty three years later, I am celebrating thirty-six years of marriage — to the same guy! The boys are 31 and 29 and we added a little girl who is now 20. Where does thirty-six years go?

One thing is for sure. We have done a lot of things and gone a lot of places. 

• Bill has pastored three churches (Emmanuel Baptist Chapel and Rich Pond Baptist in Bowling Green and First Baptist in Richmond). 
• We’ve gone on numerous mission trips (Brazil x 3, Africa, Malta, Haiti, Ecuador, Charleston, Louisville, Nashville, Maysville, Indianapolis, Utah, New Hampshire, Houston, Dallas, Pascagoula). 
• We’ve been on 4 cruises to Alaska and the Caribbean. 
• Our children have graduated from three different high schools (Madison Southern, Lexington Christian, and Madison Central). 
• We’ve had six dogs (Chili Davis, Barnabas of Greybeard, Red October, Steel Magnolia, Cassie, and Benny the Jet Rodriguez), four cats, a bunny, a hamster, and a turtle (who grew so large that I put her in a little pond in our back yard and she promptly ran away to a real pond down the street). 
• We have been to Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize, St Thomas, and Nassau, and I have traveled with my sisters to Hong Kong, China, and Cypress. 
• We have lived in three cities and have built two houses and lived in five others. 
• We have driven to ballgames all over the country — mostly to see the LA Lakers, SF Giants and the GB Packers. (Chicago, Green Bay, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Phoenix, St Louis, Detroit, Cleveland, San Francisco, and New York). 
• We’ve seen the Toppers and the Cats play ball in Tampa, Nashville, Louisville, Atlanta, Little Rock, Charlotte, Dayton, Bowling Green and Lexington). 
• Our children have been involved in soccer, football, baseball, basketball, softball, dance, swimming, cheering, and track. 

How have we survived all these years of marriage?

• We’ve laughed a LOT. 
• We’ve partnered together in serving the Lord.  
• We have each put the other first. 
• We’ve partnered together in raising our children. 
• We’ve made decisions together. 
• We’ve dreamed together.
• We’ve cried together. 
• We’ve supported each other’s career choices. 
• Each has been the voice of reason when the other was about to do something foolish. 
• We’ve been on countless dates. 
• And we’ve laughed some more. 

How much more can we cram into the next thirty-six years? I still feel like we have a long life ahead of us. Hopefully we do.