Thoughts of a Sojourner

Today will be the first of several of several installments where I share about mine and Kim’s story of love, courtship, marriage, heartbreak and my personal journey through the process of losing my bride. As I share these writings, I know my time writing will be filled with smiles, tears and joy, but such is this life that we live on this earth. I have been contemplating sharing this story for sometime and until now I have not really been ready to put my thoughts to words written/typed.

So where do I start with a love story that spanned nearly 40 years? Well, you start from the beginning! Kim and I attended the same school for 12 years. We attended East Limestone High School (when East was a K -12 school…yes I’m old…lol). Through most of our school days, we were acquaintances and knew each other because let’s face it, when your class only has 68 people you tend to know everyone. All this changed in the spring of 1985! We both attended our junior prom, although not together, but we did end up hanging out together with a group of mutual friends and actually danced together that fateful night. I knew from that night on that I wanted to pursue that cute redhead! As the final couple months of our junior year came to a close, we found ourselves talking more and actually went out one time in May of that year. As Spring moved to Summer, we found ourselves being the last two people toward the end of July at our school on the day everyone got their senior portraits done. After I finished getting mine done, I decided to hang around and wait on Kim to get finished. We ended up hanging out together just talking and laughing that evening. After a couple weeks of talking on the phone almost nightly, I got the courage to ask her out on our first official date which took place on August 17, 1985. Man was it a romantic date! We went to Shoney’s, had a cheeseburger and then took in the latest installment of the Rambo saga at the theater…lol. We would laugh about that night for the next 39 years. As we parted company that night in her driveway, we shared our first kiss and I knew (as she would tell me later that she knew too) in that moment that she was the ONE. I know many in this world do not believe in love at first sight, but I can truly say that we loved each other from that moment. From that precious night of August 17, 1985, we were inseparable. Our story of dating and courtship was the classic captain of the football team & head cheerleader romance. We knew from the very beginning that our love would be one that would ultimately be solidified in marriage. From the very beginning, we found joy and happiness just in being with each other. I am a firm believer that God orchestrates every affair of our lives and I firmly believe that God caused our paths to cross. I am thankful beyond any method of measurement that on that night of our junior prom, I found the courage to ask my future bride to dance because that moment set in motion what would become a life together defined by love and joy. In the weeks ahead I will share more about our courtship, marriage, the joys, the challenges, overcoming those challenges, my losing my bride, the process of grief and finally the beginning joy rediscovered as I enter this phase of life. My pray is that this story will be one of encouragement and ultimately as I share about the grief process maybe help to someone that may be traveling that path right now.