One Adventure At a Time

I have been married to my husband for almost 27 yrs and we dated 4 1/2 yrs before that. That's just over 31 years of being together and since we are both 49 yrs old that means we've been together more than we've lived apart. We are suited for each other. He truly is my other half and without him I would be less of who I am. We balance each other out and that comes in handy when I'm being too quick to act on something or he's being more cautious. We find a middle ground and go off on another adventure together. 


We've had many adventures together. We've bought a house, started a family, taken random roads to see where they lead. We've gone to new churches, we've moved several times. We've been without a home and job. We've gone new places. We've had a missions trip together. We've lasted through a child's serious illness. We've survived when it seemed like the whole world was against us and started all over again. 


We've bought a 'forever' home and made it our own. We've had a gondola ride high above the Great Smokey Mountains in Gatlinburg. We've gone camping, exploring and trying new things: all together, facing each adventure as it comes and sometimes even going out looking for them. Life has been exciting and I have been blessed to have a friend to share all those experiences with, someone who knows what I'm thinking more often than not and who knows how I feel without me having to tell him.


Sometimes you don't know that a situation is actually an adventure in disguise until the situation is over and you sit back and realize that it was. Sometimes we're fearful and exhilarated at the same time at the thought of an adventure, but if we have someone going through that adventure with us it can make it something to remember.


This coming fall we will be facing another adventure together. Our daughter, Alannah, will be leaving home and going off to university, in a town 7 hrs away, to become a teacher. I am so excited for her and I am so proud. Our second son, Matthew will be getting married in October and he has chosen a wonderful, beautiful girl and I know they're going to be very happy. And you might think that these are their adventures, not mine but in a way they are mine too because now I have to adjust my everyday life not to have them here with me. I get to experience what everyone has been warning me about: the empty nest. 


Well my nest won't be quite so empty because we still have our oldest son, Benjamin, who will be living with us for a little while. So they're not all leaving at once. But still this is something that will happen eventually. A time when all of our children have left home and will only return for visits. At times I'm not sure I'm quite ready for that adventure to begin but at other times, I look back on all the adventures my husband and I have had and how we've faced them together, with God, and found the unexpected  joy He brings along the way, and I say 'bring it on', we can handle it together.

9Two are better than one,

because they have a good return for their work:

10If one falls down,

his friend can help him up.

But pity the man who falls

and has no one to help him up!

11Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.

But how can one keep warm alone?

12Though one may be overpowered,

two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12