Twenty-nine years
June 28, 2010 | My Jottings
Twenty-nine years ago today I married a man I’d only met in person one time. 1981 was before the days of e-mail, so Michael and I carried on our courtship through many letters and phone calls over a three month period of time.
He asked me to marry him before we ever met — he told me we could make the plans and he would be fine with meeting right before the ceremony. I was pretty sure I wanted to say yes about marrying him, but I insisted we meet first, and I flew from Southern California to Northeastern Minnesota so we could see each other face to face.
During that short time I met his family, got a feel for how different life and culture was in Minnesota, gasped when I saw the beauty and vastness of Lake Superior, prayed for guidance, and felt like it was the right thing. I flew home, gave notice at my job at a large private investigating firm, gave thirty days’ notice at my apartment complex in The Big OC, broke the news to my sweet little girls (ages 4 and 2 1/2), and started packing our things.
Michael flew to California for our June 28th wedding so my family could meet him. Everyone approved. We were married in a small ceremony in Los Osos on the Central Coast, spent our wedding night in a motel on the beach in Cayucos, and departed the next morning for the long drive to what I would later come to wryly and affectionately call American Siberia.
He was thirty-two and I was twenty-three.
Any credit for almost three decades of marriage goes to Jesus and Michael. We loved and love each other deeply, but there is no way we could have made it without the love and power of the Lord, and without Michael’s steadfastness, faithfulness and patience with me. If you would like to read a short tribute and see a current photo of this brave man who rescued me from the certain disaster I would have made of my life without him, click right here. It’s worth the read.
So today I wish my husband a Happy 29th Anniversary. I shudder to think of what our lives would have been without you, Michael.
You’re still the one…
Hey! Happy Anniversary you guys! May God continue to bless you richly, guiding and watching over you every single day. xxx
Happy Anniversary; wishing you many more wonderful years together!
BTW, is Sharon your clone?
You aren’t the first person to use that word in describing us, Patty. Don’t tell Sharon, though. 🙂
Happy happy anniversary, mom and dad!
Happy, Happy Anniversary!!! May our Lord fill your lives with blessings each and every day!
Happy Anniversary to you. May God continue to bless you as you as abundantly and more than you have blessed others!
Happy Anniversary! How blessed you are to have each other and a wonderful, loving family!
Dear Michael & Julie,
Happy Anniversary! I did not attend your wedding but the small reception at our home was so joyful. I know your dad was very concerned but Michael proved to him over the years that God had brought you two together.
Happy anniversary, happy memories, happy future. Even hard places bring joy in retrospect. I was thinking about that this very day. You are not quite half way to our tenure, but we started at 19, when I married an older woman, older by seven months. The love you and Michael share blesses man.
Thank you Lloyd. We have a lot of catching up to do to experience what you and Elsie did. But I’m thankful to be on our way….God bless your week. You going north this summer?