PrintAnother Wedding Anniversary!!
This past week Bev and I celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary! How about that!! We went out for a celebration dinner. We reflected together on many of the countless memories of times, places, events and people that have been the context of our life together as husband and wife.
I found myself thinking about the vows we made on that perfect July day those many years ago. Those vows were expressed in the traditional words of that time. Vows that saw us commit to love each other "for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, 'til death do us part". We really meant what we said even though we had no way of knowing what delights and dramas, triumphs and tragedies might be ahead of us.
There have been quite a lot of all kinds - positive and negative.
We have raised 3 children who are the pride of our lives. Yet we experienced the death of another son who succumbed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) when he was just 4 months old.
We have enjoyed the blessing of excellent health for ourselves and our children. Yet in these latter years I have been afflicted with Parkinson's Disease.
Our relationship has remained strong and committed. Yet we have endured the agony of watching our daughter's marriage end in divorce.
"…..for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health 'til death do us part".
Like all couples who take their marriage seriously, we have had our rough times. Times when we disagreed. Times when we were not speaking, such was the intensity and pain of the circumstances and our individual responses to them.
One thing we have always agreed upon and been committed to is that the idea of divorce would never be entertained by either of us. In making that commitment, we were not naïve or ignorant about the kind of tests and pressures that might be ahead of us that could challenge that personal commitment. Nor did we deny the reality that, for others, there may be situations in which the termination of a marraige may well be the only course of action available.
Another reality that steadily makes us aware of its inevitability is the fact that we have less years ahead of us than behind us! The day will come - sooner or later - when one of us must release the other into the arms of Jesus. It would be great if we could go together but that is not our decision to make.
However, it is our decision to make the most of whatever time we have together. I like to think that the best is yet to be. It may be less on the quantity scale but it can be more on the quality scale. Even though age is bringing with it the limitations that come with decline and disease, we will enjoy the gift of each and every day.
Way to go!!
