Today is the 33rd anniversary of the day I married the love of my life, Tom Hartley.  I fell in love with a goofy and brilliant man who loved to play

and made me laugh.  We met in college.  Our first date was to a college football game.  He had originally asked my roommate out, but she was going home for the weekend, so she told him to ask me.  She never got another chance.  It may not have been love at first sight, but it wasn’t long after that for the two of us.

We got married six days after I graduated from college (he graduated the year before) and we moved into our first apartment in Nashville TN immediately after our honeymoon.  Our first apartment was very similar in size to the RV we are living in now – in fact, our current kitchen is much larger.  As least you don’t have to leave the room when someone opens the refrigerator door!

Through the years we have had some ups and downs – times when jobs or circumstances interfered with our ability to communicate with each other.  Sometimes we have forgotten to listen to each other or to treat each other with respect.  We both have very strong opinions and sometimes we can get in pretty heated arguments.  Both of us are convinced we are always right.  But we always come back to the same place in the end, committed to working it out and growing in love.

The name of my blog comes from a song that Tom and I had sung at our wedding.  It is an old Carpenters’ song – We’ve Only Just Begun – and it reflects how I felt as we started the adventure of marriage together and how I feel about it today.

“Sharing horizons that are new to us

Watching the signs along the way

Talking it over just the two of us

Working together day by day.

Together”

In many ways we have returned to the place where we began.  We are living in a small space.  We are once again deciding what we will be and where God wants us to serve.  And we are excited to be doing it together.  Thank you, Tom, for loving me.  I can think of nothing better than to have 33 more years together.