October 2nd we celebrated our 31st anniversary. I can't believe that we've been married that long. Some days it feels like it's been forever - in a good way - and then yet, can it be that 31 years have passed by since we said, "I Do"? The hopes and dreams of a young couple started with the total remodeling of an old home in Sheboygan Falls. That presented us with our first of many challenges. We were both working full time and putting in long hours working at the house while living in a nearby apartment. So my day started before 6 a.m.. I headed to work making sure that Dale was up before I left. I'd return mid-afternoon, make supper so that it was ready for Dale when he got home at 5 so that we could go right to the house to work some more - often till 10 or 11. Depending on what they were doing that night, I didn't always go to help, I'm not too handy with a hammer. So that meant that I'd see Dale maybe 15 minutes a day. That went on for 3 1/2 months. Not what I had pictured for myself as a new bride and not what I would recommend for anyone starting out.
Well, many years and projects later, I can still say that I'd marry that man all over again. We have both learned so much about each other, life, family and the part that God wants to play in all of it. As Dale and I were talking the other day, he said that our life has sort of gone in 5 year spans.
Years 1-5: life without kids - time to get to know each other, ski vacations, fun
6-10: Josh, our first born, boy, did we have a lot to learn - poor kid!
11-14: Zach enters the family - more activity & friends, start of homeschooling
15-20: Life on the farm - rabbits, chickens, eggs, horse
21- ? No animals - except the mice in the farm house and the cows that stayed
in our barn and who we at times helped chase at all hours of the day
and night to get back where they belonged. Dale awoke one morning to
find several sleeping on our lawn. What a way to get the lawn aerated -
and fertilized!
Now it's the new house, even though it's almost 3 years since we've been in, no kids except when Zach's home from college and back to working full time for me. Would I change anything if I had the choice to do it? Having hopefully matured over the years, the one thing that I would want to change would be "me". I would want to be more patient, more selfless, more giving... just more of who I now know that I could have been, should have been.
In Genesis 2:18 God created woman because He didn't want Adam to be alone. "I will make him a helper suitable for him." I think that the King James version called us a "help meet". What in the world is that? In a book that I am presently reading,"Captivated", the author points out that a better word would be "ezer" - "a sustainer beside him". You see I'm not to be just a helper in our worlds' way of seeing it, but it translates better as a "lifesaver". Now to me that has a much bigger sounding job description attached to it. Have I been someone that Dale has needed like that? Have I been there to encourage, praise and come along side to help him live life? I'm still working on that one.
SO, we celebrated at Lola's in Elkhart Lake. Love the place!
A great Bruscetta
Wonderful desserts: a chocolate sampler tray and a pumpkin cheesecake with a ginger crust.
