I'm not a person who looks for signs from God. But I'm not past seeing them when they're put right in front of me.
In 1994 I was in love with Tina Wells.
I'd met her in a bus station in the Canadian capital of Ottawa the year before. I'd gotten to know her and was to the point that, not only did I want to marry someone like her, I wanted to marry her!
And marriage is a big deal. I wanted to be as sure as I could that I was not going to make a mistake. And so I prayed and I pondered. Then I pondered and prayed.
Then, one day I was driving in Walnut Creek, California. Tina had been on my mind for a long time and marrying her had been in my heart almost constantly for the previous two days. I came to the intersection of Ygnacio Valley Road and North Main Street and something happened that had never happened before, and has only happened once since.
I caught the red light there and stopped my car. I was the first car at the intersection. I had a clear view of the building on the northwest corner of the intersection. There was a great little pizza parlor - and I love pizza, and there was a cool mountaineering shop where I'd bought a lot of the gear I owned. I'd seen each of them many times before, yet I'd never noticed the tiny shop sandwiched between them.
The sign in the window said "Wells Interiors". I took that for my sign and resolved to do whatever I had to so that I could marry Tina and make her happy for the rest of her life.
That was more than 17 years ago. And we've had ups, downs, and an absolutely wonderful marriage.
Lately I've been thinking a lot about what makes a wonderful marriage and specifically what makes my marriage wonderful. It's a thought that has been on my mind, especially as I've worked and traveled so much in the last 2 years.
This fall, my work brought me back to Walnut Creek and I found myself at the intersection, stopped - the first car at that red light - for the second time in my life.
I'd noticed some years ago that my mountaineering shop, pizza parlor, and Wells Interiors had been torn down and replaced with a modern office building. I was a little sad in a nostalgic way, but I'd never noticed much more about it. Now, as I sat at the light I looked closely and read the sign that now stands about where my sign had been.
It reads, "Fidelity".
Thank you, Tina....
In 1994 I was in love with Tina Wells.
I'd met her in a bus station in the Canadian capital of Ottawa the year before. I'd gotten to know her and was to the point that, not only did I want to marry someone like her, I wanted to marry her!
And marriage is a big deal. I wanted to be as sure as I could that I was not going to make a mistake. And so I prayed and I pondered. Then I pondered and prayed.
Then, one day I was driving in Walnut Creek, California. Tina had been on my mind for a long time and marrying her had been in my heart almost constantly for the previous two days. I came to the intersection of Ygnacio Valley Road and North Main Street and something happened that had never happened before, and has only happened once since.
I caught the red light there and stopped my car. I was the first car at the intersection. I had a clear view of the building on the northwest corner of the intersection. There was a great little pizza parlor - and I love pizza, and there was a cool mountaineering shop where I'd bought a lot of the gear I owned. I'd seen each of them many times before, yet I'd never noticed the tiny shop sandwiched between them.
The sign in the window said "Wells Interiors". I took that for my sign and resolved to do whatever I had to so that I could marry Tina and make her happy for the rest of her life.
That was more than 17 years ago. And we've had ups, downs, and an absolutely wonderful marriage.
Lately I've been thinking a lot about what makes a wonderful marriage and specifically what makes my marriage wonderful. It's a thought that has been on my mind, especially as I've worked and traveled so much in the last 2 years.
This fall, my work brought me back to Walnut Creek and I found myself at the intersection, stopped - the first car at that red light - for the second time in my life.
I'd noticed some years ago that my mountaineering shop, pizza parlor, and Wells Interiors had been torn down and replaced with a modern office building. I was a little sad in a nostalgic way, but I'd never noticed much more about it. Now, as I sat at the light I looked closely and read the sign that now stands about where my sign had been.
It reads, "Fidelity".
Thank you, Tina....
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1 comments:
awww...I love you John... and more in importantly I LOVE both of you together! Cant wait to see you guys! Drive safe!
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