twelve years and counting.

Twelve years ago, I finished teaching my early morning seminary class, assigned homework for the weekend, and headed to the airport.  What a whirlwind of a day!  I met Sarah at the airport, and we flew to SLC.  I was going to go to a twenty year reunion for my mission president.  Well, that was A reason for the trip.  The other reason was to get married.  

I remember picking up the rental car ( a yellow neon) and as we were early, we stopped at Taco Bell to get a snack.  It was snowing a bit, as I recall.

My parents met us at the courthouse at the appointed time, and we were married by the county clerk. My parents served as witnesses.  It was actually a very nice, simple ceremony.  Afterwords, we went to Chinese down at the old ZCMI mall.

I still think about the huge changes in my life during that period.

In 2002, I had made the decision that I was going to be fully active in my church.   I had not been, and while I did have the "EXCUSE" of having to work on Sundays, that is all it was.  I suspect that this decision had an impact on the first major change.  Separation and divorce.

Marriage requires two people working toward mutual goals.  To me, this was devastating.  It felt like a failure on my part.  And I mean DEVASTATED.

Then Sarah came into my life.  She encouraged me, in ways that I had never been encouraged.

I joined the Mormon Chorale, and I cannot begin to emphasize what that did for me.

I made it a priority to go to the Temple, and have been blessed personally by that.

I was prepared to serve in positions at church that I never would have dreamed of.

It wasn't just churchy stuff. 

I felt encouraged to move into management.  While I was an average controller, I feel I was an above average supervisor.  This culminated in taking the Twin Falls job.  I am not sure what I would have done with my job without Sarah.  

I started taking classes again, and hope to have my degree by the end of the year.

I retired.  

It hasn't been all rosy.  Some of my kids will have nothing to do with her.  Blending families requires more effort, on all parts, than just the marriage.  None of us are perfect, and we all make mistakes.

Sarah, I will always love you.  You have made me a much better person than I ever thought myself capable of being.

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