Jim Goings

I remember meeting you online before the Internet existed.  I stumbled across a bulletin board on Prodigy advertising a Christian woman looking to be pen-pals with a Christian man.  I read it as “Hot chick looking for hunka hunka burnin’ love” which is the only way to interpret that when you’re 16 years old.   We wrote hand-written letters, sharing our teenage experiences with each other.  I remember the disappointment I felt on the rare days when the mailbox didn’t have a letter from you in it.

Letters turned to phone calls:

“You hang up”
“No, you hang up first”

Somehow I survived my mom having to pay a few hundred dollars in phone bills!

Even though it felt like an eternity to me, it wasn’t too long before we met in person.  Somehow, despite my white afro and ridiculous Abe Lincoln beard, you didn’t hesitate to embrace me when I arrived at your door.

I was 19 and you were 20 when we married.  We had our fair share of skeptics, but I think it’s safe to say that they were wrong about us.  We never doubted that we’d be together forever, even for a second.  I can’t recall a single moment with you where I imagined not being with you the next day.

For some, love fades over time, but ours seems to be just as strong as when we were starry-eyed kids swooning over each other.

We still hold hands, cuddle, finish each other sentences, and laugh at each others jokes.  We are best friends and are still in love.

I confess from time to time I take you for granted.  As with my arms or legs, I just assume you’ll always be there.   It rarely occurs to me that we would ever be apart.

But now, as I take the time to reflect our on our life together I can’t help but imagine that tomorrow or fifty years from now, death will take us.   No matter when that time comes, I know that I will look back at our lives and feel that my life with you was good and fulfilled.

We have literally spent our entire adult lives together and have arrived at a place where I have never been more content.  The family we have created together with the help of the Good Lord has been worth every second of our lives together.  The peace I have in my heart is due to you and your endless commitment to this flawed man.

I love you.  You have made my life complete.  I know that the bible says that we won’t be married in heaven, but you can rest assured that I will be hitting on you when we get there!