Thirty-One Years! 8/23/1980

Does it still count?  It is hard to know what to do today or how to process my feelings. Today would have been my 31st wedding anniversary. I think I will go to 31 flavors to celebrate. I am sure that Jim would have come up with that idea had he been alive! I put my rings back on and I will look at our pictures and listen to the CD of the service.

I will remember. I will offer thanks to God for a wonderful life with a godly man. I will cry.  I will miss him even more, if that is even possible. I wish for such an opportunity for both of our children and I pray daily for their future relationships.

We met in 1977 at Biola College. We were in the Symphonic Winds together. He was a Senior and a trombone player.  I sat straight across from him and played the clarinet.  Although we were friends, we didn’t start dating until the spring of 1979. After dating for almost a year, Jim asked me to marry him on Christmas Day 1979.  We were at the beach. Jim was on staff at Downey First Baptist, so we were married there by Harold L. Adams and Jerry Martin. I remember that I had strep throat and Jim’s glasses fogged up on that hot afternoon. My sister burned her leg on the iron. Our groomsmen included Wil Triggs, Dennie Clemetson, Chuck Willingham, Steve Terry, Ed Salas, John McNabb, Mark Marriott. The bridesmaids included Julie Mares, Martha Vosburg, Marji Thomsen, Marianne Freilich, Shelley Leith, Holly Holbrook, Stephanie Anderson.The music was lovely and so were the flowers. The groom was young and handsome.

We wrote our own vows. I still remember mine.

Jim, I love you and rejoice in God’s guidance bringing our lives together. I promise to be your best friend and companion as we begin in our marriage growing in the light of God’s love. I promise to be your helper and encourager, praying that you will continue to be the man of God He wants you to be. I will share your joys, comfort your sorrows and disappointments, and I will accept you, both your strengths and your weaknesses.  I will strive to communicate honestly and openly so together we can mature and develop, giving preference to our relationship.  I trust you with my life, believing in our love and expecting God to make us a blessing both to each other and to our world.  I vow to honor and respect you as my spiritual leader and I will submit to your authority with a positive attitude as the head of our home.  I will always be loyal to you no matter what the cost; I will always believe in you, I will always stand my ground in defending you, and I will always expect the best of you.  Jim, I love you and I am committed to you with these vows for the rest of my life.

We went to Palm Springs and Canyon Lake for our honeymoon.  Our rings were engraved: Forever a Team.  Our marriage verse is Psalm 34:3 “O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name forever”.  As we established our home we wrote this mission statement: We exist to live for God while bringing out the best in one another. There are a plethora of memories, prayers, blessings, laughter.  God has been faithful. God has been good.

I love you Jim.