26 years ago today was a beautiful late fall day, at least in Lexington, KY. 26 years ago today Tywana and I pledged our love for each other in front of family and friends until “death do us part”.
At the time I had no idea how long that would be. I always had this feeling I wouldn’t live to be an old man. I meant the vow for life, but had no idea of knowing what life would bring. At the time I had no desire for children. We hadn’t really discussed children. It wasn’t until three years into our marriage that we even considered children. It would be another three years before we decided to have them. Then, three more years later and we had Shayna.
We had the normal ups and downs of a couple up until the time the girls joined us. The girls were blessings like we couldn’t even have imagined. Years of family vacations, afternoon trips to Costco and homeschooling would follow. Then, Kayla made the decision to go to public school. Shayna would follow. Shayna started being diagnosed first with rheumatoid arthritis, then with a very mild and very manageable heart condition. Then, five months before our 25 anniversary, Shayna was suddenly gone. We had talked about going to Hawaii for our 25th. Shayna thought she should go with us. After Shayna’s passing, all talk of going to Hawaii went away. We endured that milestone, our first anniversary in 15 years without Shayna being there to celebrate with us. The first of the milestones marking new experiences without Shayna.
Today it’s been another year. People are congratulating us on having made it another year and wishing us many more. Who knows? We think we know what life has in store for us. We make our plans, but they can change in the blink of an eye. For today, I’m grateful for the times we have had and the one thing I know for certain about the future, that time cannot separate us forever. We will all be together again.
