We began going for a cup of coffee together, then to lunch. Then to a movie. Then just to sit and talk and become reacquainted. I explained to you what had happened to your letter, and you told me about your chief petty officer preparing all of you for a “Dear John” letter. And when my letter came, you thought that was your “Dear John” letter!
After we spent a year dating, we were married. I had wanted our wedding there with my Sunday School class present, and with other members of our church, family, and friends all gathered together, we said our wedding vows 53 years after we first met! At that moment, I knew for certain that this was what God had intended for us.
These past 11 years have been the happiest years of my life. Although I look back with regret on all the time we could have been together, I realize that God’s timing is not our timing. Maybe He was saving the best for last, and if we had gone through the struggle of raising a family and the stresses of life during a period of hard times, it might have put too great a strain on our marriage.
As it is, we have been able to be together, just the two of us, and to enjoy that time alone. We have traveled to many places: Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Europe, Alaska, the Caribbean islands, across the United States, and many other places. We can realize now, as we have so often said, that God had wonderful plans for us all along and guided our every step back to each other. Isn’t God wonderful?
Most of all, these years together have given us an appreciation of each other, and what love is all about. It is about caring for each other, greeting each day with joy because we have each other, thanking God that we have another day together, and knowing that God planned it this way.
I have just had my 80th birthday but I still feel as if I am “sweet 16,” and all because you love and treasure me. I love you.
Your loving wife,
Dell CD
Copyright © 2007 by Andrew Carroll From the book Grace Under Fire: Letters of Faith in Times of War, edited by Andrew Carroll, published by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
