16967 days and counting!
August 1972 – We first met in a college suite – .
…I was new to the school in my junior year, and some friends were showing me around.
…He was visiting his best friend on campus.
While he says I caught his attention then, we didn’t see each other again for nearly 10 months!
June 1973 – his best friend married my suite-mate. Several college friends gathered at the bride’s family home near Asheville, North Carolina.
He will say he lost that ping pong game on purpose so that he could invite me to take a walk in the woods. That walk was the first of many … even today we walked hand in hand.
He tells a great story about that weekend – about wanting to get to know me better. But when we left Asheville to go to our respective homes (his was Memphis, TN, mine was Virginia Beach, VA) … he knew my name but not my phone number or address. When a dear friend of his at home challenged him to pursue me, he did the only thing he knew to do. He called the college operator, told the story of meeting a girl for whom he had no number, and the operator gave him my number and address! This was long before any privacy laws!
And pursue me he did! He proposed a short five months later. Now 16,967 days (46 years) later … we still enjoy each other’s company.
I credit out marriage working so well due to my husband’s unconditional love for me. My husband wrote this definition of love some time ago: “Love is an unconditional, sacrificial commitment to the welfare of another manifested through intentional acts of kindness.’ While he is not perfect, he strives to embody that definition. His effort to love me well has pictured for me the love of our Father.
Our marriage continues to be a blessing – I enjoy growing older with my best friend!
I’m grateful for my husband, for our marriage, and for the life we’ve built together!
