By 6:30 this morning, I remained the only one at home.
It is a beautiful start to the day...
The sun is shining...
With only a few clouds in the sky...
Light cool breezes move the curtains...
Roosters crow...
Crows caw...
Birds sing...
The bed is made.
The dishes are done.
The bathroom has been cleaned.
Laundry awaits.
The yard, wet with dew, needs mowed.
A trip to the grocery store is on the afternoon schedule.
My mind scrolls back...
22 years ago today...
The dress was ready...
I was excited...
Wedding preparations were in full swing...
22 years ago today, I couldn't wait for "tomorrow" to arrive...
For "tomorrow" would be the first day of together forever...
As we took a family walk last night, I couldn't help but think...
22 years ago we never would have dreamed that we would be where we are...
Living where we're living...
Doing what we're doing...
Loving more than we ever could possibly imagine...
Nurturing two beautiful, healthy girls...
Never would we have dreamed that...
Kyle would face the health struggles that he has...
We would walk alongside friends laying babies to rest all-too-soon...
Close family members would taste the sting of cancer...
Never would we have dreamed...
We would homeschool our children...
Kyle would use his love for music to lead people to the Throne of Grace...
We would dwell in the home that Grandpa Mack built with his own hands...
Never would we have dreamed that...
The nieces who were flower girls would be all grown up...
The "bottom side" of the vows we took (worse, sickness, poorer...) we would eventually face...
(We, like everyone else, only focused on the "upside"...the better, health, richer... No thought is given to facing or working through the "bottom side"...)
Never would we have dreamed...this life.
Twenty-two years ago today, I couldn't wait to marry my very best friend. ♥
Things were simple then...
On the day of the wedding, I fixed my own hair, put on my own make-up & painted my own nails.
For flowers, we used tuberous begonias that Mom had planted herself.
We got married in my home church.
We had a simple cake & punch reception in the basement of that church.
Close friends.
Immediate family.
No food.
No dance.
Simple.
For Kyle's bachelor party he & Tom went to World's of Fun where Tom told every ride attendant why they were there which gained them access to the front of the line...every time. Beth & I shared dinner together on the "porch" of a favorite Mexican restaurant that we both loved.
No parties...
No hoopla...
No drama...
Never would we have dreamed...
As soon as the cake had been cut & pictures had been taken & clothes had been changed, Kyle & I were off...
A simple honeymoon, but so much fun.
The start of forever...
Little did we know what lie ahead...
Never would we have dreamed...
Little did we know that 22 years ago today that same friend that went with Kyle to World's of Fun would be recovering from open heart surgery...
Not just a Best Man...
But a Best Friend...
Little did we know that 22 years ago today that same friend that shared dinner on "the porch" with me that evening would be nurturing her husband back to health after nearly losing him to death...
Not just a wife...
But a Bestie...
Never would we have dreamed...
The past three weeks have been nothing short of crazy yet nothing less than miraculous.
I long to share with you how God has so intimately & marvelously worked yet I first want to get the okay from Tom & Beth before I expound...
22 years ago...
Never would we have dreamed how quickly the years would slip away yet how through life's circumstances, God would draw us so much closer to Himself. Besides my salvation in Christ, Kyle is the greatest gift of my life & I suspect that if we're still here in 22 years, we, at this point, could never begin to dream all that God wants to work in us & through us...
June 28th, 1991 ~ Farrens/O'Riley Wedding Rehearsal
these whom we love so much...
