7 years of Rain and Sunshine

Tomorrow James and I will celebrate our 7 year wedding anniversary. We had an amazing 3 day weekend in Nashville, Tn where we saw some shows, ate some amazing food and more importantly, spent some much needed quality couple time (something we haven't had in the past 3 years).  It was great, but driving home we hit a monsoon of rain.  That kind of rain that makes you drop about 20mph less than the speed limit.  That kind of rain that if a semi goes by, you are pretty sure you could surf or drown off the wake he splashes up with his huge tires.  The kind of rain you start to think, maybe I should just stop and ride this one out.  

It was horrible, but it made me think of the past 8 1/2 years James and I have had together.  It made me think of all the tears we have shed, both joyful and sad, and the tears that were sure to come. I started thinking about all that we had been through, and the tears of pain and a sadness we h ad shed.  We cried with the loss of James parents, both of whom passed within 6 months of each. Both who passed way to soon and way to young.  We cried for the failed multiple fertility treatments and when the doctor said there was no hope.  We cried after we lost our jobs and the after the loss of our beloved 4 legged babies.   We have cried for and with family and friends who have lost loved ones, unborn children and pets. We have cried for those that we did not know, the children lost in a senseless shooting and those lost in a bombing of why I still ask why?  There have been a lot of tears and sadness and pain. 

But we have also had many joyful days, thankfully more than the sad ones.  We have been blessed with food on our table, a roof over our head and shoes on our feet.  We have amazing family and friends.  We have shed tears over their support, their commitment to us, their love for us.  We are truly blessed.   We have shed tears as we celebrated college graduations, weddings, new careers, new beginnings.  We cried over the prayer that was answered when we became parents to a precious baby boy.  There have been many days of happiness and joy.

We have shed enough tears, it seems, to create a monsoon, like the one we drove through today.  And just like this rain, the events over the past 8 1/2 years have caused us to slow down many times, sometimes way below the normal speed limit. And like the big waves caused by bigger trucks, we have felt like we were drowning by the punches that society/this economy brought our way, but we kept our head above the water at all times.  And just like the thought I had today of stopping--quitting--taking a break, we too have had those moments in our 8 1/2 years together.  Moments of stopping, just quitting, because the rain was so hard we could not see the other side of it.  The clouds seemed as thought they would never be bright again. 

Fortunately, just like today, we/I was wrong. Today James continued to look at the live radar and he kept encouraging me that the rain was going to end.  He said, just go slow, there is sunshine on the other side of this, I promise.  I smiled and I just said, I trust you, you better be right.  And I drove.  And you know what, he was right.  We stayed on course, we dodged the big waves and we didn't stop.  And all of a sudden, the skies cleared, the rain went away and the sun began to shine.  

Thank you James Henry Halcomb, for always being there with and for me, through the rain and the sunshine. I am forever grateful that God chose me to be your wife.  I look forward to what this world has to bring our way the next 7 years and the next 7 years after that and the next.......

My favorite part of our vows to one another is when we repeated the following: 

 “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” Ruth 1: 16,17

I love you!!!