It Would Have Been 25 Years

January 30, 1988 ... just 12 days after my Nannie died ... the Lord gave us one of the greatest blessing of our lives.

It's was a cold, bright, sunny Saturday morning.  I rode to a near-by town with my parents and watched them "tie-the-knot" in the livingroom of a preacher friend of my dad's.  Afterwards we went through the drive thru at Hardees to get a chicken sandwich, and then they took me home so they could go away for a couple days.

My parents met a dance a couple years before that day.  To hear my dad tell the story is one of the sweetest things ever.  I really didn't know he could be romantic, but when he tells the story it's like a scene out of a movie.

He had wanted to dance with her, but she was getting ready to leave.  She was wearing a yellow shirt and they started playing, "The Yellow Rose of Texas".  He asked her dance and the rest is history.  The story is much more charming and full of details when he tells it, and the smile on his face tells me what his heart truly feels.

He loves her deeply.  He treated my mom like queen.  Just about anything she wanted, she got.  I say "just about" because occasionally he would draw the line.  Like when she wanted a new car when she had a car that was bought brand new, and only had 16,000 miles on it.  That caused a "spirited discussion" between them.  Nathan, the girls and myself were witness to that discussion, and we still laugh hard when we talk about it.  It was like a scene off of a sitcom.  My girls were in tears they were laughing so hard.

He misses her so much, and I'm sure today is going to be hard for him.  He put a sweet bundle of flowers with a "Happy Anniversary" ribbon on her grave this weekend.  I love that he does that.

My girls tell him all the time they want to marry someone just like him.  He usually responds by saying, "I'd hope you would find someone better than me."  

He is precious, and we love him.  I am grateful that 25 years ago the Lord blessed me with the greatest Dad.  In his Father's Day card this year I thanked him for choosing to be my dad.  We are so blessed to have him.

I'm so grateful my mom was able to experience what it's like to be loved the way he loves her.  For 24 years she was loved deeply and cared for in a way that he wanted the best for her.  She was safe and felt secure with him.  She lived through hell on earth with my biological father, and Don is the complete polar opposite of him.  I will forever be grateful for the way he loves her, and the respect he gave her.