Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you had a super day today with your family or with folks that you love. We certainly did. Thanksgiving could be my favorite holiday of the year. I like the whole idea of having a day to think about things that make you grateful.
One of the things that Kellie and I talked about tonight after dinner, football and visiting sick family members was the fact that the two of us have spent the last 23 Thanksgivings together-- since we first met in 1985. That's a whole lot of Thanksgivings! (Actually, I'll be honest, we couldn't remember if we actually spent Thanksgiving of 1986 together or not. After fighting a lot during the summer of that year, I moved back to Austin and we didn't date again. That is, until one weekend late in December. I came into town on a lark and asked Kellie to marry me. Really. We weren't even dating at the time. Eventually, she said "yes". So our memory is a little sketchy on that particular year).
Anyway, even though we've been together for that many Thanksgivings, these November holidays just keep getting better and better. In fact, I always tell Kellie that her Thanksgiving meal is "the best one I've ever had." She thinks that I'm just feeding her a line, but it's the absolute truth. Her Thanksgiving spread is magnificent. And she just gets more and more skilled at it every year. She keeps topping herself. I can authoritatively say I wouldn't want anyone else's turkey except hers. She is an outstanding cook....and I'm glad we are in the same family.
Now, when we first married, that certainly wasn't the case. Kellie was far less experienced with cooking in those days. In fact, she was often quite the person to experiment with exotic meals and so forth. Exotic to her.....risky to me. But, I ate everything I was served. After all, I was even less clued in about cooking than she was, so what choice did I have? You're talking about a guy who got through college eating can after can of Swanson's Chicken a la King on toast. I even ate the stuff for breakfast! Cheap, easy and filling. Notice I didn't say it was nutritious.
Our first year together as newlyweds was a sweet year. I have such great memories of that time. Kellie and I were so in love and downright giddy about living together as husband and wife in our first apartment. The pace was slow and the demands were few. We had easy jobs. We had a good church. It was a nice period to get to really know and enjoy each other.
But life is so much sweeter today in this millenium. We have now been married 20 years. We're much older (in fact, I'm really feeling it today). But the plus is that today Kellie and I definitely know each other very well. We have been through just about everything together--all kinds of highs, lows, thrills, meltdowns and adjustments. And we are so much more in love as result of our commitment to each other. Things couldn't be better between us. Life has thrown us all kinds of curve balls through the years but we keep on swingin'. We work hard on our marriage and it is our top relational investment, second only to our walk with God. And these days we have two beautiful teenagers with which we get to share our Thanksgivings. Nothing could be more wonderful.
For those of you who will get married in the next year, I'm praying that you will have a similar kind of story to ours. With prayer and hard work, you will. Marriage is the greatest thing going, but you need the help of someone greater than you. And in the meantime, while you're learning together, cultivate the habit of being thankful. If you can be grateful for each other every day, not just on Thanksgiving Day, you'll be amazed at much you'll realize you already have together. And life will just keep getting better and better....no matter your circumstances. I guarantee it.
Have a great Thanksgiving weekend and may you have many, many more together.
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