The one who anchors me. . .

I do not say enough about the woman who is my anchor and refuge and the love of my life.  She has given me encouragement to go past what is safe and easy.  She calls me back to reality when I am too full of myself.  She keeps me honest when I could live too comfortably in my self-delusions.  She is my best friend and her love is my most cherished possession.  I say this to you so that she may know how profoundly she has shaped my life and how dependent I am upon her.

For 39 years she has been my wife but I cannot recall my life apart from knowing her.  She does not make my life easy and I am sure I do not make hers easy.  That is not necessarily why God created them male and female, one for the other, to make life easy or even easier.  Love is not easy.  Love is hard.  Love forgives when instinct is to remember.  Love endures when the world places expiration dates on everything.  Love is patient when the mind wants to run into the first unjust conclusion.  Love gives when everything else weighs the value of things by what is received. 

Our lives have been intertwined so that we seem instinctively to know what the other is talking about after periods of silence and to finish each other's sentences when one of us pauses.  We have learned to enjoy each other's interests while remaining distinct individuals.  I knew in a moment that she was the one with whom I wanted to spend my life.  I think I had to grow on her a bit.  I cannot believe the passage of time for what, in my mind, seems the blink of an eye. Today, on our anniversary, the best I can do is to thank the Lord for Amy and thank her for sticking with me.  She has deserved so much more than me and I have deserved so much less than her.  I love you!

An excellent wife who can find?  She is far more precious than jewels.   The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. . .  Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.  She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.  She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.  Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.  Proverbs 31