…Perhaps the times I miss my husband the most are on the weekends. Our routine for the past decade had included couple time, mom’s night off time, and family worship time. On Friday afternoons Cary and I would often head to town, just the two of us, to run errands and then enjoy dinner out or catch a movie at the local theatre. Saturdays were filled with doing farm chores together (yes, I can stretch wire fencing and swing a mean hammer). Saturday evenings were then his Dad Date night with the kids – playing board games, making popcorn, and staying up late watching a movie at home, while I got the night off to do whatever I chose. Sundays were our day set aside to attend church together as a family. The long drive was a time for talking, listening to the radio, or just gazing out the window lost in our thoughts. Cary preferred attending church worship service with his entire family, no separate children’s church or Sunday School so that his kids could see him worshipping his God, and they could worship right alongside of him. Life goes on, it is still good, but it is different now. I can be with my kids, or a large group of people, and yet still feel lonely. I miss my guy more than words can say.
Yes, my husband was indeed a loving spouse. I didn’t always see it in the sometimes long, hard days, but now I clearly do. Not just in viewing our life together with rose colored glasses, but in knowing who he was, from where he came, and experiencing all the positives and negatives of our lives together. A truly covenant marriage is the greatest blessing of life on earth, and we were blessed with such a great one.
During the past year of my writing this book, it has been my great pleasure to recall the details of Cary’s and my life together as husband and wife. The memories are especially strong during my long drives to town alone, when I feel his presence so strongly. Swept away with remembrances prompted by every song on the radio, I am sometimes brought to tears, but always they are happy tears. As I complete my final edit on the manuscript for submission to my publisher, it is the day before what would have been my husband’s 63rd birthday. I am heartened to think that Cary would have enjoyed my gift to him this year more than any previous in our 28 years together: this memoir of our shared life story. Here’s to you, dear – you bugger, I can’t believe you went to Heaven so soon….