What A Wonderful Idea
I WAS REALLY STUMPED about what I should write about for today’s blog posting. There were plenty of crazy stories in the news – like the guy who was arrested for trespassing when he was discovered sitting naked in the middle of a pig sty, incredibly drunk. His only explanation was, “I really like pigs.”
No, I didn’t want to use my bandwidth trying to understand that.
I asked my wife, the lovely and always creative, Dawn, for an idea and she said, “Why don’t you write about your wonderful wife.”
I could never think of anything better than that.
Dawn is a wonderful wife, mother, life companion, best friend, inspiration, life saver, and most loyal, caring, and beautiful person I know. She is also the best Minister to a sometimes difficult congregation that I could ever imagine.
All that and she knows how to make me laugh.
Dawn and I were married on March 29, 2003 and I will never forget our anniversary. The day offered a little bit of everything: rain, snow, clouds and glorious sunshine. There was also a flock of ducks that landed on the pond by the chapel. They arrived as we were beginning and left, as if on cue, as we walked back up the aisle. I guess they had another booking to get to.
There have been ups and downs over the years, most of the ups were because of her and the downs were mine.
One thing that Dawn brought into my life that is almost beyond comprehension to me is that, when we married, I became a Dad – a step-dad to be more accurate, but still I had a new role in my life in addition to husband.
Alex was an active participant in our wedding. He had lines to memorize and recite on cue and when we went back up the aisle Alex was with us. We went as a family.
A few years after we married Dawn came to me and said that she had heard the calling to become a Minister. We were members of the First Congregational Church of Terre Haute (That’s French for, “After church we’re all going to lunch”).
Three years married to me and I send her screaming into the arms of the Lord.
Understanding Dawn as I did I knew that she would be an outstanding Minister – and she has been. She studied and became an Associate Minister and then, upon the retirement of the Pastor, she was asked by the congregation to assume that role. She has served in that position for almost seven years now.
It is a hard, seven-day-a-week job, and she loves it – and the members of the congregation love her. She has revitalized the church and gotten it more involved in the community.
I am so proud of her.
One more important – no, vital, thing about Dawn: she is an avid baseball fan. Even more importantly – she is a San Francisco Giants fan.
I take the credit/blame for that.
She was always a baseball fan, but I infected her with Giants Fever, and now she harbors a secret desire to become the official chaplain for the team.
In a couple of weeks we will be heading to St. Louis for three days to catch the Giants’ visit to Busch Stadium. We will be wearing our Giants Uniform Jerseys to each game. On the back of Dawn’s it has her name as, “The Rev.” What could be more appropriate?
Dawn and I have been married for twelve years now and, God willing, we will have many years yet together.
I love her dearly, she keeps me going, and, once again, she makes me laugh.
What more could I ever ask for?
Down the Hall on Your Left 