I imagined me carrying her to all the places that she would ever want to go. I imagined myself as her Prince Charming. Remarkably, she kind of sees me that way.
I had no idea that she was actually going to be my deliverance.
I am a pretty good guy.
She is the best.
Period.
I remember the evening that I came to know it. It was the sort of evening that every country boy loves- the first cool night in October. Clear sky. The smell of woodsmoke in neighbor's chimneys. NCAA football tomorrow. Leaves falling in the evening wind.
But I was down. Way down. Things had not gone as I'd expected. We were struggling to pay our bills. I thought with my trial skills I'd have already won several million dollar verdicts and we would be on our way toward easy street. Instead, I was trying to figure out how to make a law practice survive in a small town. I was trying to figure out how the strain of running a business was fitting into the picture of me saving the world, and I was not meeting with much success.
So that night when I arrived at the house with a brown paper sack, I fully expected judgment from my bride. I got the opposite. I got her arms. We sat out in the bed of my Ford Ranger and she held me. The stars were bright. The smell of woodsmoke hung in the heavy autumn air. Me and my baby sat under a quilt in the bed of my truck. She held me in her arms and listened to my heart. My tears soaked her shirt. I cried. She listened. I told her the truth about me. She loved me.
If I had never seen love before, I saw it that night in her arms.
Tonight, she is thousands of miles away. She is telling other people about Jesus.
I thought I'd carry her with my strong arms. I had no idea she'd be carrying me.
Tomorrow is her birthday. For 36 years this world has had the pleasure of knowing her.
Fifteen of those years have been mine.
God bless you baby. I love you more than I can say. Happy Birthday.
No comments:
Post a Comment