Year One: Through His Eyes

One year has passed, wow can you believe it? Wow, if this was a secular marriage, you would have left me months ago. For the first three months neither one of us had a job but every day you continue to look at me with love, at times we only had soup to eat, but always we had each other and our love for each other. Our faith in God kept us strong through the hard times. It seems this first year has been full of tough times, but somehow we have made it through.

I started school the first day we got back from our honeymoon; we were apart for 2 days a week for the first two and a half months, at one point even longer as I needed to do the research on campus. I remember the day you came to Henderson to see me, you loved me and missed me so much that you came to be with me to give me support and company. The first day of my fall semester, everything changed, I called you to tell you I had been in a car accident, and that paramedics were working on me. My phone then died. I couldn’t give you any more information and it broke my heart. I kept thinking about the dream you told me when I laid there in the hospital. Those were the longest two and a half hours of my life because I wanted you there and I wanted you next to me to hold me and tell me it will be ok.

The months that followed were very hard on the both of us; I would think you more than me at times. While I suffered from black-outs, headaches, memory loss, seizures and my fear; you were there to hold my hand, you were there to tell me it will be ok. I loved you more and more each passing day. Our joke that “I love you less than tomorrow” is true. I do love you more and more each day.

One year has passed, and I continue my schooling and as ever you are by my side cheering me on. At times, also the butt-kicker, the one who calms me down when I freak out, always out of love. As I look back on this year, it has indeed been the toughest, but our love for each other and our faith in God keeps us going. That and our witty sense of humor and sarcasm keep us laughing each day. We have been told more than once “to be a fly on our wall.” My wife as we celebrate this first year of marriage, let us look to the future and to the challenges it holds. Let us laugh at the troubles like we always do. Let us celebrate 70 more years together. I can only simply say, I love you, my darling, my wife, my soul-mate…My Angel Ashby.