And as my dear friend Ken Davis says, "We blinked" and suddenly, magically we are celebrating thirty years of marriage today.
That thirty years has brought us two of the most beautiful and lovely girls both inside and out, a wonderful son-in-law, four lovely churches to serve and one not so lovely, four wonderful homes, a wonderful Maltese named Taffy, one not so wonderful Siberian Husky named Cinnamon (in fact, I am convinced she was sent straight from hell), travels from the dusty Australian Outback to islands called Virgin, to Rome, Paris, London, Sydney, Florence, Venice and various points in between, ups and downs (99.9% ups), and as they say in Princess Bride "wuv, true wuv".
After thirty years, Chris is "still the one", my best friend, my lover, my confidant, my business partner and my all. She has loved and stood unwaveringly beside a sometimes very unlovable artist who tends to be temperamental, passionate, stubborn, daring, risk-taking, entrepreneurial, and occasionally just plain stupid.
I am a truly blessed man and this is a blessed day. I sang a song for her thirty years ago today. I held her hands, looked her in the eye and somehow choked the words out as our friends and family listened in that little country church outside of Ringgold, Georgia. Neither of us could have dreamed how prophetic the words were to become.
"Day after day, I must face a world of strangers
Where I don't belong, I'm not that strong
Its nice to know that there's someone I can turn to
Who will always care, you're always there
When there's no gettin' over that rainbow
When my smallest of dreams won't come true
I can take all the madness the world has to give
But I won't last a day without you
So many times when the city seems to be
Without a friendly face, a lonely place
It's nice to know that you'll be there if I need you
And you'll always smile, its all worthwhile
When there's no gettin' over that rainbow
When my smallest of dreams won't come true
I can take all the madness the world has to give
But I won't last a day without you
Touch me and I end up singing
Trouble seems to up and disappear
You touch me with the love you're bringing
I can't really lose when you're near
When you're near, my love
If all my friends have forgotten half their promises they're not unkind,
just hard to find
One look at you and I know
That I can learn to live without the rest
I've found the best
When there's no gettin' over that rainbow
When my smallest of dreams won't come true
I can take all the madness the world has to give
But I won't last a day without you"
-The Carpenters
