The Anniversary

Happy anniversary to my hubby.

 

We started this marriage off as mere children. If you happen to be a numbers person (which I am NOT) – here is the breakdown:

 

37 years

444 months

13,505 days (not taking in account for leap years)

324,120 hours

19,447,200 minutes

6 children

14 grandchildren

 

That adds up! There have been good times and not so good. There have been some amazing highs and “below the depths” lows. There’s been winning; there’s been losing. We’ve made mistakes too many to count. But we’ve done a few things right too. Recently, loss has been our companion.

 

Losing a child to death is never in the plans. It’s not the way it should be, not the natural order of things. A great multitude of marriages fail due to the stress. It’s a heavy loss that weighs heavy, like an anvil on the heart.

 

We determined not to let that happen to us. We are two very resilient people. We fall and we stand back up. The last year and 1/2 have been more like climbing…but we are still climbing. There are days when we slip down that slippery slope of devastation and then start over. There are days when hubby is the strong one and days when I am and many days when we both crumble. We accept the pain the other is experiencing. As a dad, his experience of loss is different than mine as a mom. We also have different ways a dealing with and expressing our sorrow because of the whole man/woman thing.

I have learned many things in the last year and a half. Mostly things I didn’t want to know, learn, understand or experience. I would’ve preferred to have no wisdom to offer on the subject of child loss and family hardship. It was not to be.

Our anniversary, like everything else, is bittersweet. I was pregnant with Stuart when we got married, so he was with us from the beginning. It’s hard not to have him here with us now.

We are thankful for the gift of that pregnancy (Stuart Lee Sims), and the marriage that began a wonderful life together. We are thankful for the mercy and grace of our Savior. We have been blessed with six children whom we have loved with all of our hearts. We are grateful to watch our grands grow in the Lord.

 

Thanks honey for 37 years!

 

Thanks honey for holding my hand on this journey.

(Because I love quotes, lyrics, etc. I thought I would share these lyrics. We were 16 and 18 years old!!! And as I said, this is our 37th anniversary.)

 

Dancing in the Minefields

I was nineteen; you were twenty-one

The year we got engaged

Everyone said we were much too young

But we did it anyway

We bought our rings for forty each

From a pawn shop down the road

We made our vows and took the leap

Now fifteen years ago

We went dancing in the minefields

We went sailing in the storm

And it was harder than we dreamed

But I believe that’s what the promise is for

“I do” are the two most famous last words

The beginning of the end

But to lose your life for another I’ve heard

Is a good place to begin

‘Cause the only way to find your life

Is to lay your own life down

And I believe it’s an easy price

For the life that we have found

And we’re dancing in the minefields

We’re sailing in the storm

This is harder than we dreamed

But I believe that’s what the promise is for

So when I lose my way, find me

When I loose love’s chains, bind me

At the end of all my faith, till the end of all my days

When I forget my name, remind me

‘Cause we bear the light of the Son of Man

So there’s nothing left to fear

So I’ll walk with you in the Shadowlands

Till the shadows disappear

‘Cause he promised not to leave us

And his promises are true

So in the face of all this chaos, baby,

I can dance with you