Nancy and I are celebrating our 44th wedding anniversary today. We have known each other for 64 years having grown up on adjoining farms. (My tribal sister said that she believed we were born married.) We dated as kids, but it took going to different universities to realize that someone was missing. We married halfway through college. Her dad told me that we had his permission to marry, but she was mine to put through school. I wanted her to complete her degree at Ohio State, and I had to continue at Ohio University since I was serving three congregations in the area (Stockport on the Muskingum River) which provided our income. I went on to graduate school in Delaware, OH, M-TH while she then lived in Stockport and supplemented our income by teaching first graders (40 Appalachian kids in one room with some never having seen indoor plumbing). As a consequence, our first five years of marriage was our honeymoon of only meeting on weekends. That sixth year of living together was a real eye-opener. We committed our lives to each other before God. My grandfather and the pastor of the church that nurtured us as children tied the knot for us. We did so for better or for worse. We learned that love has little to do with our circumstances. It is of our hearts, and it has taken us through the joys of learning who we are together, the birth of a fantastic son and daughter, a daughter-in-law and a son-in-law who are as much our children now as our own, and four grandchildren. We have walked together through the grief of the deaths of those who gave us life, taught us what is of utmost importance in life, and showed us what love really means. We have shared times of plenty and times of wondering (never of want for our actual needs always have been met). We also have learned that one is whole with and without the other. If one of us is in the spotlight, it is only because the other has shared strength and understanding to enable it. Neither has ever said to the other, You cant but instead has said, You can try. Each of us knows the taste of the others tears, and we know the richness of combined laughter. We know there is much more ahead. I love you Nancy Jean Eppley. You are the proof that I can make at least one great decision in my life.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 00:05:45 +0000
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