40 Year Anniversary

The above is a picture of my wife Paulette and me not long after we were married on this day forty years ago. We have had our ups and downs during those years. We were even separated for about five years. But, our love and commitment got us through it all by the help and grace of God. She is 73 and I am 70.

I met her through my friend Mike Fisher who was my speech professor and debate coach in my first two years of college. He was the same age as I was (due to my starting college when I was 28) and we became close friends. He also was a good piano player and a Baptist. He played the piano for Paulette and her mom and sister, who were a Trio that sang for churches. I first met her at a Southern Baptist Church here in Monroe when Mike took me there and I saw her in the fellowship hall when a meal was being served. I was instantly drawn to her. Later I also went to her mother's house with Mike for their practice session. It was there that I asked her for a date. She was reluctant to accept (she was not looking for a husband). But, when I told her I had tickets for an Elton John concert in Charlotte she accepted. She had two teenage children, a boy named Andrew and a girl named Miranda. 

God gave her to me. He knew what I needed after my divorce from my first wife. She was my soul mate. We think alike, and we share our faith. She is a good singer. She sings alto, and the professor of music at Wingate University (my alma mater) said her voice was even closer to being a contralto. Her mother, Doris Myrick, was for many years the music and choir director at their church, Sandy Ridge Baptist Church here in Union County. She and her husband, Irving Myrick, were devoted Christians. They built a house beside us shortly before we moved into our house (in a subdivision I created with a partner) and after Irving passed away, I became very close to Doris (who we called Nina). She was one of the sweetest women I have ever known. Now she has passed on.

Paulette has had many battles with her health the past twelve years, as I have too the past five years. As I recently announced, her lung cancer has returned and so we ask for the prayers of all. She is a super trooper. We thank God for bringing her through so many of these battles. She has been on oxygen for many years now. She has COPD or emphysema on top of her battles with lung cancer. She will be seeing her pulmonary doctor in a couple weeks and then her oncologist. When she had a spot on her lung twelve years ago the doctors were able to use radiation to kill the cancer. We hope that this will happen again, although the cancer spot is larger now and is malignant. 

When we were separated for those five years, they were tough on me. Some of the darkest days of my life. But, thank God, we were able to reconcile and that occurred about 1997. Couples who are struggling to keep their marriage from falling apart, or who are separated, should try to mend their relationship, to be reconciled, and not give up hope. 

God has been good to us both. We are content. I thank God that she knew how to be poor as I also did. She did not covet what others had, nor was she envious of the wealth of others. She is that virtuous woman that Solomon wrote about in Proverbs chapter 31. 

She is a stickler for good grammar as I am. We would often correct each other when we spoke incorrectly, which she also did with her children. I believe her mother also did the same. She also loves puzzles, especially anacrostic ones. She also loves reading books, especially about real murders such as "In Cold Blood." She watches a lot of court cases on Court TV. 

I have told her over the past few years that God may take us both out of this world before the Great Tribulation begins, and I still believe this may be true. I have also prayed that God would bless her and me (and all my loved ones) to have a peaceful death without undue anxiety, stress, fear, and pain. 

Thank you all for your prayers. Thank you Lord for your goodness towards us.