19 Years of Wedded Bliss!

Today my husband Steve and I are celebrating our 19th anniversary! When we met almost 20 years ago he was a commercial fisherman from Alaska spending the winter with friends and visiting his sons who lived with their mom. I was a secretary living as a single mom struggling to get by both emotionally and financially. My roommate was the son of Steve's friends. My roommate, Chris, worked nights as a bouncer in the Peppermint Lounge where I hung out with my girlfriends on weekends when my daughter was at her dad's. Steve's dad and Chris's dad had been co-workers in the Forest Service 20 years before and had kept up the friendship through the years. So when Steve's ex-wife remarried and moved to DC, Steve would come and spend winters with Chris's dad and help take care of the cows on the farm in the outer suburbs. Without God's intervention in this relationship, we would never have met!
One night in late October 1999 Chris asked if my friends and I could help entertain his friend who was coming to "The Lounge" as we called it. Of course, we always did stuff like that and that night I met this wonderful man. We went out on our first date a few nights later and the rest as they say is history.
By the time Steve was scheduled to return to Alaska for fishing season we were in love. He bought me a ticket to come back with him for a visit to Ketchikan in Southeast Alaska. At the end of my visit I was dreading going home and living life without this wonderful man whom God had brought into my life. Little did I know that Steve had a plan!
The night before I was to leave we went out to dinner and dancing. It was quite cold that night but we braved it and went to a beautiful place for dinner (that's now a tourist shop!). Then we went to a fun bar and it was crowded and noisy. So we went back to the restaurant where there was a live band. I was watching the band waiting for my drink to arrive and when I turned around I saw the ring in the box on the table in front of me. I literally burst into tears! HEHE! I had NO idea he was going to ask me!
I went home and spent some time preparing for the 4,000 mile move from Virginia to Alaska. My 9 1/2 year old daughter loved Steve and wanted to come too. So I waited from March until June so that she could finish school. Then we packed our belongings and drove just the two of us all the way! We stopped at Mount Rushmore, The Badlands, Yosemite and lots of other places along the way. Our absolute favorite was Tekarra Lodge in Banff, Alberta, Canada. Finally we arrived at Prince Rupert, British Columbia where we caught the Alaska Marine Highway ferry which would take us the 6 hour run over to Ketchikan.
We spent 5 years up there before we moved to the Tampa, Florida area. Steve's boys had been moved again and we needed a change since the bottom had dropped out of the fishing industry. We have since lived in Jacksonville, Florida; Calistoga, California; and finally to Deerfield Beach, Florida about 11 years ago. While we like it here, we are feeling the draw back to the simpler life in Alaska. And thus our dreams and plans to build a family-oriented fishing lodge near Ketchikan. We hope to begin this journey sometime next year.
We have been through many trials and tribulations. We have remodeled 3 homes. We have raised our children - he has three boys. We now have two grandchildren - Molly is 7 and Noah is 5. We have a wonderful home and lots of friends all over the world. And we're still very much in love! It's been a great life. All because God brought two men together in the Forest Service in Kentucky almost 40 years ago! Isn't that amazing!?!
So on this night of our anniversary I want to publicly say THANK YOU to God for bringing us together. I would do it all again! The good and the bad. The fun and the not so fun. The moves from one end of the country to the other and back again. It was all WELL WORTH IT! And it's all because we truly, truly love and respect each other. Man I'm blessed! :)