I do it constantly! Thanking God for my blessings is my most often prayer! I cannot begin to describe all the ways he’s blessed my life! But I can at least write down what I’ve been saying to a few visitors we’ve had recently who have no clue. So, here goes.
Back in 1962, we met and dated for about three months, and this young sailor asked me to marry him one Saturday night. I said yes. He said next Saturday! OK!
Well, all week as I worked and shopped for something to wear, I was talking myself out of it. I kept remembering my dad left mom to raise us alone and deaf, and that same mom was also abandoned by her dad, long before that, raised by a mom alone. I just knew it was a bad idea! Not something I was ready for at 19.
But, through it all, at the back of all my thoughts, a voice kept saying quietly, “Just do it!”
“Just do it!”
Well, I’ve long since recognized that right there as Divine Intervention. Holy Spirit! Whispering and guiding me when I really needed it.
So, we did it. And after the ceremony we celebrated at his parents house, and finally took off, to – I knew not where. Well, to my complete astonishmont, it was to my own home. Our own apartment. Fully furnished, with food in the frig, and everything. My home! That young sailor had taken that week to get the apartment, purchase the furniture, fill it with food, and provide for me like no man had ever done before!
WHO DOES THAT? WHO DOES THAT?
So, we spent the first four years working, he in the Navy, still, and I at whatever job I could find, and spent out enjoyable hours together drag racing, and working on cars! What fun! Well, when the time in the Navy was up, he got out just in time for us to start a family. And we did immediately!
He started a career in insurance, that took long long hours away from home, but provided for us so I could stay home and be a mom. Yes, a stay-at-home mom! Me! And I guess I didn’t do too bad a job of it.
When my kids all got into schooling six hours a day, I got to go to school. I’d dropped out of highschool to keep my younger brother in, and worked in offices. I got to get my GED, and go to community college and study art, a lifelong desire! I studied painting, drawing, art history, design, and sculpture. Me. I got seriously into oil painting! Might have done more, but changes happened. Me. I learned welding and wood carving, and did both wood and steel sculptures. I did hollow casting of a few of my plaster pieces. I manipulated clay, but some didn’t survive the kiln. Had a great adventure. Learning. It’s a wonderful thing! I’ve got insatiable curiosity! Always did have. And I was so enjoying that.
What an opportunity. Due entirely to my blessing, my husband.
And when it was time to send a kid to college, we needed more income, so I joined him at his office, and helped out. “Just a few hours a day!” But it turned out to be full time, really, because of that box no one wanted to open. They had won a computer by their production. But no one knew anything about computers. Did I mention curiosity yet? Well, I opened it, a computer with MSDOS operating system, pre graphical interface….no windows! Well, there were books, and there was software to be installed. Floppy disks, unheard of these days! Oh the younger generations have missed so much!
In no time we were producing more and more, and bought old Leading Edge computers for the rest of the office, increased production like crazy. And switched from selling to individuals to selling to small business instead. A great idea.
The kids were growing up, too fast. I read about a device, a modem, that allowed your computer to connect to others! What? So, I had to have one, and Santa brought it! I explored calling other systems, using modem and phone line, and discovered – what? I could get files from other computers and set up my own system, with a BBS? Well, we did that, Melanie and I, and Scorpio Rising introduced us to lots of learning, other people, new things and experiences. A doctor called and walked me through taking the computer apart and replacing the battery, and had me identify what each thing in there was, it’s function, and why it was important! Told me about computer shows, and my curious husband and I went.
Well, after that, he built all the computers for the office, and I ran all the software! We were a team! A good team! And while production was growing and a partnership formed, new offices arranged, and all that, why, at home, we were still exploring technology like crazy! Loving every minute of it! Indeed, we used that BBS to communicate, Melanie and I, through years where it was difficult to talk, because of adolescent angst. You never know if you are taken seriously by your kids until you see, in writing, that kid giving advice to her friends that sounded just like what you told her! Blessings! There were so many! What fun! How I loved all this exploration into technology! What an adventure!
Well, after she finished up at VCU and came home and got married, and had kids, she wound up working in our office! And when Gaelen got into school the system tried to mess with him. Labeled him as “disordered?” My sweet little grandson? He was a head taller than his peers, but no slower, and not really a problem. The school system was….a big problem. Round pegs into square holes…ugh. He wasn’t a girl!
So a new adventure began! A new opportunity that we only had because of our blessing, my wonderful husband. Again, I got to stay home! I got to homeschool Melanie’s kids! What a wonderful experience! There were groups, and get togethers, park days, lots of trips to the Smithsonian for history and art lessons and appreciation! Beach in September when others were in school, trip to Massachusetts to Plymouth Plantation, the Mayflower replica, all the wonderful historical sites in Virginia, Mount Vernon trips, Monticello, Norfolk, visiting large ships, and submarines and aircraft carriers! Oh, and best of all, reading together, aloud. We read such books! Some so memorable. And used kindles, so we would sit across from each other, and read a few pages, and then the other would. We did sentence diagramming, and science experiments! Played sports, and messed around in the kitchen! Even went to Cancun! Chitchen Itza and mariachi restaurants! Parasailing!
Grandkids are blessings, too. Each one is a treasure.
But all of it was because of that guy God wouldn’t let me say no to, way back in 1962. God blessed us all at that point.
And through it all, there were European trips, trips to Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, China, Mediterranean cruises to exotic places! All provided by insurance companies for conventions and things!
Yeah, and when folks wonder why bickering in our old age doesn’t bother me much, it’s because they don’t understand. This blessing needs me now. And that’s ok. I owe. God says so. He sent me a blessing. Now I have a responsibility to still be here for him.
He had a fabulous career, not really described or mentioned much here, but this is how my blessing, my husband, has affected my life. I’ve had opportunity after opportunity to learn without limit, to grow, and exceed my wildest expectations. As a child, who knew? I certainly never thought I could —- well, the imagination wasn’t up to what I actually did do! All because of that voice that kept telling me “Just do it!” Holy Spirit! Yes!