Thirty Years

I am told by peo­ple far smarter than I that the planet Sat­urn takes approx­i­mately thirty years to com­plete its orbit around our sun. In the past thirty years, while Sat­urn qui­etly and slowly cir­cled the sun, much has hap­pened with me as well.

Thirty years ago this Novem­ber, I stood ner­vously as the bride of my dreams walked down an aisle to say, “I do”. I was thin­ner then, younger, and unsure of what lie ahead, but I knew that what­ever, my new wife and I would face every­thing together.

Our first home, an older one, with drafty win­dows, big rooms, and an old fire­place had mice that would play under the kitchen table at night as Becky and I would sit qui­etly talk­ing about our day. An opos­sum vis­ited us once on our breeze­way and a bat some­how gained entrance and flew around in our liv­ing room.  The floors were creaky, the base­ment smelled, but it was our home.

As Sat­urn con­tin­ued on, Becky and I per­formed with the His Tones Gospel Singers, trav­el­ing the state and beyond, record­ing, and meet­ing some won­der­ful peo­ple along the way, while our chil­dren grew up.

Chil­dren mar­ried, fol­lowed by mov­ing, fol­lowed by grand­chil­dren, fol­lowed by more wed­dings, and even great-grandchildren, much hap­pi­ness has entered our lives. Along with the hap­pi­ness has been sor­row as we have watched fam­ily mem­bers and friends, over the years, leave this world.

As Sat­urn comes full cir­cle, Becky and I will cel­e­brate thirty years of mar­riage. Reflect­ing back we have shared full lives together and I can­not imag­ine hav­ing expe­ri­enced life with­out her. She has been an awe­some com­pan­ion for me, one I have never deserved and I am truly blessed.

No one knows the future or what tomor­row may hold, lest God, but I am look­ing for­ward to the jour­ney with my wife at my side. Hold on, Sat­urn. I think I’ll go around one more time.