On Chris' 28th Birthday

After months of an awkward friendship - the type where one's emotions are bound to become vulnerable and the friendship will either become a lifetime of "I do's" or will dissolve completely, they finally stepped forward with mutual affection. It didn't take long for them to know they would walk their life's journey's together. He had all kinds of ideas and aspirations, and faith and commitment that would take him - and her if she chose to follow - far from where they stood then. She was nervous and uncertain of her willingness to go the distance that he had in mind. She was a home-body, a mama's girl. She got homesick the night before leaving home. Her mom challenged her, "But, aren't you willing to go?" So, she went. How could she not? He was her very best friend. He was kind, calm, smart. He could make her laugh so easily. And he challenged her love and devotion for Christ without saying words. It was just the way he was. Marriage was a small adjustment for them, because they were young and had barely lived as adults on their own. They enjoyed many new experiences together and made a good bit of mistakes together too. "Live and learn," they would say. Though in the beginning their opposing strengths and weaknesses attracted them, time proved to them that they were more similar than different - sometimes strengthening them, other times revealing magnified weakness. The mechanics and natural progression of life sometimes had a way of clouding the things she valued most in him. All of the sudden, he didn't seem so calm; she forgot how smart he was; and she found herself rolling her eyes more than laughing. Sometimes she even resented his commitment to go the distance, though she would never put it in those words; she was tired of making what she thought were sacrifices and thought she deserved better. How thankful she would be when she emerged from her self-consumed fog. She was thankful it didn't take crisis or fear to open her eyes once again to the character she prized so much in her husband. There was more nit and grit in their every day life than tulips and Hawaiin music, but at the end of the day - some so long they felt like a week - they would chat like friends, converse honestly and seriously like long-time partners and laugh simultaneously at the same thing. When she turned out the light, she knew she could never chose any other path but to go along with him - even to the farthest distance. Then she would smile and mock herself for thinking, even for a second, that she had been the one with the choice all along. And she gave thanks and honor to God for his providence and blessing on her.