14 Years Ago Today...

I'm not sure how it happened now that I think about it. I had a friend who had a friend and the friend thought me and her friend would hit it off. I hated blind dates, but luckily I was able to catch a glimpse of her before I gave the go-ahead for a set up. She went in sight unseen, so my expectations of anything more than dinner and awkward conversation were pretty dim. But, as luck (read: providence) would have it, the dinner was great (mexican) and the conversation, anything but awkward, lasted past midnight.

That's how we met. She was beautiful, fun, direct, had a steady income and a good head on her shoulders. I was a 24 year old male (read: idiot). So the first date went well, as did the next several and the next thing I knew we were engaged. Six months later we were married. Fourteen years ago today.

I'm certain she didn't know what she was getting into. Six months after the wedding I announced I needed a career change. Granted I didn't know what too, but it had to be different. All the while she stood by me, unwavering. It took 2 years of delivering blue-prints, wheelchairs and selling books before I found the career. Still, she stood by me. That career has led to no less the four separate relocations, including moving half a continent away from all that we knew. And still she stands beside me.

My parents have been married forty years; hers nearly as long. We have friends and relatives that have been together over twenty as well. So by comparison, 14 doesn't seem that long. I'm sure living with me makes it seem longer. But after all this time I still can't explain what she saw in me on the first date, or the 2nd, or after the first year of marriage, and at times even today. The only way I can explain it is by God's grace. I cannot look at her, or our 2 perfect children, and not know that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than I could dream to ask. I did not know back then how to fix all that was wrong with me. How to be a responsible, trustworthy man. How to hold on to a vision and not let it go. But God knew. Her name was Vanessa. All that I am, all that I've done and as far as I come in the last 14 years is a direct result of him intervening in my life with Her.

Vanessa, I am who I am because of you. Thank you. I love you. Happy anniversary.