A Decade of Marriage!

Wow!  We did it!  Ten years of marriage!

I found Dennis on the Match website.  I sent him a simple note through the site—“Nice smile!”  That’s all I said.  He replied that he lived 85 miles away, had a 93 year old mother, and a 17 year old dog.  I took that to mean he was too busy and too far away to connect.  So, I moved on.

About two weeks later, I got a message from him asking what happened to me.  I told him he “gave me 47 reasons not to meet him,” at which he replied, “I can eliminate them all but three.”  I thought that was very clever, and maybe we should start communicating.

We emailed for a while, and then talked on the phone.  I was busy with my work, and he was busy doing life, and we could not find a time to meet in person.  We continued talking, and finally came up with the day after Thanksgiving 2012.

It was a all-day date.  We went to the St. Louis Zoo.  The weather had been cooperating the whole month of November, and that morning was no different.  By the time we got to the zoo, the weather changed its mind, and it got cold and windy.  Neither of us has warm enough jackets.  We walked around looking at animals, and popping into any animal house we could find to get warm.  We ended up at an indoor concession, ate lunch, and talked for a long time.  We then went back to St. Charles, MO, to have dinner before he left for his drive back to Fulton, MO.

There were not big sparks, but it was a nice day.  As he was getting ready to leave, he suggested that he come back Sunday morning and pick me up and we could go to church together at my church.  Really?  No one has ever offered that after the first date!  Although there were no big sparks, I realized what a nice person he was, and decided to give it another try.  I had many first dates from dating websites that I made instant first date decisions not to continue.  He was worth giving it a try.

The rest is history.  We got married on August 6, 2013. 

Over this last ten years we have traveled. We moved from Missouri to Arizona, but continue going back for family events, and they come to see us also.  We saw 33 states and visited with literally hundreds of family and friends.  Here is just a random sample of our 10 years.

We also took a Carabian Cruise and saw Mexico, Belize, and Honduras. 

We went to class reunions and a book launching party for a friend and author, John O’Leary.

Five years ago we went to England, and then on to Germany where we spent time in Seligenstadt, my daughter-in-law’s home town, where she and my son had their wedding reception. We moved  on to Frankfort, Cologne, and Nuremberg the following week. 

This past fall we spent a week in Rome, also visiting Pompeii, and sites near there, and then took a cruise back from Rome to Tampa, Florida, stopping in France, Spain, The Azores, and Bermuda.

We have gone through health scares and surgeries together.  We have struggled through family crisis together.  It has been a very rich, well spent, and rewarding ten years of marriage.

When we first got married, I jokingly asked Dennis for a 10 year warranty.  I hope to renew the warranty again!  Most of all we laugh a lot. We just enjoy being together.

I am so grateful for the life God has given us together.  We do make a good team.