“For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24

15,701 days ago I married my better half! That makes 43 years…counting leap years. Most folks know our story. I was playing drums in a hotel band in this town. She was on a spring break vacation from Ohio with 3 of her friends. Our eyes met when she walked across the dance floor and 2.5 days later, and under influence from HER, I asked her to marry me. We were married in 2 months. The rest is ourstory!

Last night we looked at each other and were shocked! The years have gone by SO very fast! A perspective, I guess, that comes with age. Maybe it’s the odd number of years…43, but I find it tough to summarize. If someone were to ask me, “what is the secret to a long happy marriage,” I’d have a tough time narrowing it down to just one sentence.

Looking back we had been warned. And rightfully so. Neither of us had a college education and had dropped out. Realizing the mistake, we were each working and taking part time classes. Both of us lived with our parents. So without a good education, a good job, a place to live or any good sense…we fell instantly and madly in love. All we knew was that we WOULD NOT live our lives without each other! We were warned!

After 43 years it is a good story. Even though the warnings proved true. We did it all wrong and life was HARD. Every lesson, from how to fight, share, forgive, make up, disagree, make decisions, tackle finances, having babies and raising them… we learned the HARD way! It seems every lesson came after a failure first! We had been warned. And we weren’t SUPPOSED to last! Except for 1 thing!

This morning, my lovely bride texted me from the other room. And these words really say it all, “Thank you, God is so good to us.” The PERFECT summary of our lives. Even through hardship, difficulty, trial, pain, sorrow and loss…GOD is SOOOOOOOO GOOD TO US! We were warned. And I recommend to NEVER do it how we did! But needing a compass needle to guide us, we pointed our ship toward God and His Word.

We MAY have been too dumb to know anything different. If so, I pray dumb for every young or old couple on the planet. Because we are not lucky.. we are BLESSED. So thanks for the text, honey. The secret to a long and happy marriage really CAN be summarized in 1 word…GOD! And if you don’t believe me…ask HER! Happy 15,701 days Peaches!