If I had to do it all over again........

I would.


Oh sure, things haven't always been perfect....far from it actually, and we've had our normal challenges that every married couple encounters, but if I had to marry him all over again....I would.


You see, I was young and just out of high school. Not sure of what I what I wanted to do with my life....and actually, broken hearted from a summer romance gone sour.

And so....my parents suggested that I fly out to San Diego to visit my friend and her husband who were stationed out there....you know....just to get away for a little while. And...my daddy worked for the airlines, and I was still able to fly for free...so why not?

So I did just that. Confused about where things had gone wrong, and hopeful that I could put it all behind me...I boarded the plane to San Diego. How was I to know that I would come home forever changed?


I enjoyed girlfriend chats with my friend, and helped her out with their little one while she struggled to make ends meet with a part time job. But I was away from home and away from the things that reminded me of the past summer...and that was all that mattered.



Until I met "him".


You see, my friend was doing all she could do, to find someone to set me up with. Her husband was a Marine, and knew plenty of single guys, and he was in hot pursuit of finding me someone. But God had something else in mind....only I didn't know that yet.


So they planned a little get together and invited a few friends over, in the hopes that I would hit it off with the guy that came without a date. But I was not interested in him....at all.


And all of a sudden, there was a knock at their door and there "he" was. Very tall, very handsome, and there to surprise my friends for a weekend visit, as he was stationed three hours away in Yuma, Arizona. He was my friend's husband's best friend from high school (did you get all of that?), and was also in the Marine Corps, only his job had taken him to a different location. He would often come for a weekend visit....many times, unannounced. (Because when you're young and not married... you can do that.)


Only what he didn't know, was that they had out of town company. That would be me.



And how do you handle that when they only have one pull out sofa sleeper? Very carefully...that's how. Fully clothed and on opposite sides of the bed.....but what was I suppose to say when he brings in a lounge chair from the pool? I could hardly let him attempt to sleep on that while I slept on a comfy bed. He wasn't but 6ft. 4in., but I felt pretty confident he would be hanging off of the edge and not getting much sleep.


The next day, night, and long into the next morning at 4am....we talked and talked and talked some more. Never kissed me, never touched me, but he had stolen my heart. And apparently, I had stolen his, because that was the beginning of what would become my love story.



Long before the days when we all had email or cell phones, he spent WAY too much money on long distance phone calls. Hours upon hours we would stay up too late and talk on the phone, and the letters were coming and going at the rate of sometimes two a day.....yes....the old fashioned, hand written kind. And I still have each and every one...tucked away in a drawer, with the stamps on upside down.....because that meant, "I love you."


Within a very short amount of time, I knew that he was the man that God intended for me to marry. How did I know this at the tender young age of 18? I'm not sure....but I do know that I had prayed for a husband and for wisdom and God gave me the desires of my heart. Even my parents had a peace in their hearts, and believed this as well.


Within eight short months (though not short at the time.....I thought that day would never get here!!!), we were married.



And I have never regretted it....no not once. Oh sure, we're normal, and have normal disagreements, etc. But all in all, he's the best thing that ever happened to me. He's the love of my life, and he is the reason for my four amazing children.


21 years ago today, I said, "I do". And if I had it to do all over again....I would.


I'm just sayin'.