Anniversary

 Last week my wife, Faye, and I celebrated our 58th wedding anniversary. Normally, we go to Florida for about 10 days for our anniversary, but with all the problems there this year we decided to stay home. I did miss the ocean and the wonderful, fresh seafood, but we had a good anniversary anyway.

In 58 years you sure get to experience a lot of life. There have been peaks and valleys like all couples have, but the peaks have far outnumbered the valleys. The good news is that during both the peaks and valleys, we were there for each other. There were times we stood alone, but we stood together.

I recently read that the average age for males today who get married is around 30 years of age. For women it is 28. I was 18 and Faye was 19 when we married. By the time we reached today's average age of marriage we had two kids, I had served a tour of duty in the Navy, and we had a decade of marriage behind us. Some said we were too young to get married, and maybe we were, but we loved each other and were committed to each other, so why wait? I'm glad we didn't.

There is no woman I would have wanted for my wife besides Faye. I cannot say enough good things about her, but she has been a constant source of encouragement, support, and dedication throughout our marriage. The crowns she has earned in heaven will lay heavy on her head. I can almost hear God saying to her, "I don't know how you put up with him!"

Our walk with God didn't begin until we had been married for a few years, but it strengthened our marriage even more. I truly do not understand how marriages survive without God at the center of that relationship. I thank God every night for bringing her into my life and for the years we've been together.

We've been blessed with a daughter and a son and several grandchildren. The grandchildren are getting older now which makes me feel even older! What a blessing our children and grandchildren have been! We love them more every day.

We both are looking forward to more years together.