I wakened to look into my husband’s blue eyes. “Happy anniversary, honey.”

Seven years this week. Seven years with a man I love dearly, who is one of the kindest, most loving people I have known. In honor of him, and in thankfulness for this good gift, I am repeating part of an earlier post.

When God brought this lovely man into my life several years after I was widowed, I didn’t know if I wanted to commit to a new marriage. But Don was patient, consistent, kind. He told me he wouldn’t ask me to marry him until I was ready.  One day he stood by the kitchen sink as we prepared lunch together.

“I will never leave you,” he said. “You may send me away, but I will never walk away from you.”

I kept listening, watching. His love was evident in the ways he respected me, as well as my family members.

During a cruise with a girlfriend, I reviewed a list of qualities that were important to me should I consider remarriage. They described Don. It seemed I heard the Lord say “What are you waiting for?”

Several months later Don and I married in a small, intimate ceremony.

Don gives me flowers and cards, and shows me regularly how much he loves me. But it’s not always the romantic gestures that mean the most, lovely as those are. It’s the daily acts of selfless love that let me know he’s thinking of me and caring about my welfare. Things like …

… starting my car and warming it up when I have an early appointment;
… unloading the dishwasher before I’m awake;
… installing safety handles and smaller steps for my mother;
… supporting and believing in my call to write.

Don and I laugh at little things and enjoy life, whether we’re doing something special or nothing at all. And yes, we sometimes disagree, or have issues to work through. But we’ve also learned something, by losing our first spouses, about not sweating the small stuff and treasuring the time we have together.

So, husband, I love you on this special day. I love you every day. You complete me. Looking into your deep blue eyes gives me strength, confidence, and joy; and our shared commitment to Christ roots our love in the Rock of Ages.

Happy Anniversary, Don Victor Loewen!

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