My husband and I will be celebrating 23 years of marriage on Saturday.  I can honestly say that they have been absolutely wonderful years.  I consider myself to one of the luckiest women on earth to have married my soul mate. I thought I’d share a bit of our story.

Before we met, we had both been in and out of bad relationships.  We had just about resigned ourselves to quit looking for Mr./Mrs. Right.  Then one day in February of 1983, one of my girlfriends invited me to go play cards with some friends she knew when she was younger, my husband and his roommate.  It sounded like fun, so we went over.  We had a great time and I didn’t give it much thought beyond that.  But then we began to be invited over on a regular basis.  It seems that his roommate was interested in me but didn’t have the nerve to ask me out.  He got my number from my friend, but never called.  Instead my husband asked his roommate if he could call me.  I was quite surprised one day when my husband phoned and asked me out to a movie. Of course I said yes.  We had been very comfortable with each other and felt a natural friendship develop. We began dating on a regular basis and he called me everyday.  When we met, he was on unemployment, but was soon back to work and on the road again. He was and still is a truck driver and yet he continued to make sure he called everyday. This was pre-cell phone days, so it wasn’t quite as easy.  In February 1984, he asked my parents permission to marry me, and on October 27, 1984 we were married. 

We joke about the events of our life and how every 2 years some significant event happens. In 1986, our first son was born.  In 1988, we built our first home.  In 1990, we bought our own tractor-trailer truck and became owner operators.  In 1992, we moved from Massachusetts to South Carolina.  In 1994 our second son was born.  Our daughter broke the pattern by being born on January 1, 1997.  Also in 1997, my husband stopped being an over the road driver, got rid of his truck, and began working for the company he is with now.  In 1999, I began teaching.  In 2001, the company my husband works for switched owners.  In 2003, I left my job and we began homeschooling our children and our oldest graduated from our homeschool.  In 2005, my husband’s company again switched owners, and they are switching this year yet again. (big business buy outs).

We have shared so many other everyday events that have strengthened our friendship and nurtured the love we have for each other.  I wouldn’t trade moment of our life together for anything and I look forward to celebrating many more years with my beloved.  He is an awesome husband and father who always puts his family first.  There aren’t enough adjectives to describe his wonderful characteristics.  I thank God every single day that He put our lives together.