Just What Does it Take to Make a Decision

My wife is one of those people who likes to tackle a decision only after getting all the facts. Me? Well I think can get “all the facts I need” to make a decision more quickly than she. In other words I like to fly by the seat of my pants.

While Sue and I don’t always reach the same conclusions, there are time when her plodding, methodical approach brings her to the same opinion I reached in about ten seconds. And then there are times when I am enlightened by her “research” and am persuaded to join her wholeheartedly. So we walk on in life and balance each other.

But there was this one time, about ten years ago, when Sue did something uncharacteristically rash. Without having all the plans in place, without knowing all the facts, she made a decision that changed the direction of her life. I was kind of shocked as I watched her, wondering what in the world she was thinking. This was not the Sue I had known for most of a decade. What was going on inside her? Had she taken leave of her senses?

You see ten years ago today, October 2 1999, Sue said I do and married me and our two children. I had lost my first wife to cancer, the kids were three and five years old; and Sue married us anyway! What a difference that has made for us all.

So I got to witness Sue jumping into the great unknown and am grateful to God that I got to jump into the unknown with her.

Happy anniversary Sue.

Peace

Leon

What To Do If You Forget Your Anniversary

So today is my anniversary. About right now nine years ago my wife, the kids and I were all getting married. It seems like a dream. Looking at the video the kids were so young! Now they are in middle and high school. I’ll pick up a lovely bouquet of flowers on the way home, but I always like to note the day the first thing in the morning.

In anticipation of celebrating the blessed event I went and got myself a nasty cold! So armed with a terribly scratchy throat and a runny nose I went to bed last night determined to be the first to say, Happy Anniversary!” this morning.

Needless to say the scratchy throat and runny nose kept waking me up throughout the night. I saw 12:30, 2:30, 4:15, 4:45, 5:30, 5:45, and finally I just got up at 6. What a night. Well in the hub-bub of everyone getting ready for school and work, grabbing something to eat, packing lunches showering, guess what I forgot? Yup. I forgot to wish my dear wife a wonderful anniversary and didn’t even think of it until I was arriving at work.

I could just imagine her feeling bad. I was sure she was in her office wondering what was wrong with me that I had not even mentioned our nuptials, let alone gotten her a card. Oh the guilt! Sure we are going away this weekend, but to not even notice the day…that was unforgivable.

So I called her at work. Her supervisor answered the phone. I explained the problem to her so that she would not be upset about a personal phone call at work. There was a long wait until my wife finally said, “Hello.” What was behind that one word? Was she angry? Hurt? She might have said hello dear or something, but just hello? I was sure I was in trouble. So I blurted out a “Happy Anniversary,” in my cheeriest, albeit very scratchy, voice.

She laughed! She laughed at me and said, “This is the second. I was thinking we got married on the third. I guess it is our anniversary!” Not only did SHE FORGET she even got the date wrong!

So gentlemen I have a bit of advice. If you do forget your anniversary, fake it until you know for sure you are in trouble. It just may be that your dear wife has forgotten too.

Peace,

Leon

The Saturday Morning Date

This past Saturday morning my wife and I had a rare opportunity to go on a date. Just what do you do on a Saturday morning date? What romantic interest can you share in a few stolen hours together? Well the answer to that just may depend on whether or not your wife is a nurse.

Being married to a nurse can be a trip. We may all be sitting around together at dinner when she begins to describe some wound she saw that day in graphic detail. TIME OUT! Way too much detail! Please dial it back a bit. She looks across the table and grins innocently like she just shared about the sunset while the rest of us look at our plates and suddenly realize we are no longer hungry.

So back to Saturday morning. My wife wanted to go see the exhibit of bodies preserved in various poses for all the world to see. It is called: Our Bodies. The Universe Within. You can look it up at http://www.whitakercenter.org/Bodies/index.asp. We would see twelve bodies in different sporting poses and various states of dissection, as well as, too numerous to count, body parts.

Well I was dubious. But, ever the loving husband, off we went. We arrived and Sue was getting more and more excited while I was becoming more convinced this would not be as romantic a getaway as say going out for a leisurely breakfast or a slow walk in a park.

I hoped it was not as bad as I imagined it was going to be. Sue was fascinated beyond belief. We looked at bodies (mostly without skin) with exposed gall bladders, livers, muscles, hearts, lungs, skeletons, brains and just about everything else. These bodies were laid open in every way imaginable. I saw inside body cavities that were just not meant to be shared with others. There were spinal cords, nerves bundles, muscles, and vertebrae all over the place. The nurse part of our family could not have been more pleased (unless perhaps I had totally shared her fascination), but I was feeling more and more ready to be out of there.

While the science of dissection, and the state of preservation was amazing; here I was looking at someone’s mom or brother or daughter and seeing their insides. Try as I might, I simply could not think of these bodies as specimens. While Sue was in awe of the intricacies of the body, I was feeling guilty for examining someone’s insides when we hadn’t even been introduced yet. I imagined what might happen if we were there when the last trump sounded and they returned to life while someone was looking at their liver. Man that’s just not right!

As we neared the end of the exhibit I heaved a sigh of relief as I spied the gift shop. Sue asked me if she could go back for a while, which was fine by me. I just needed to get out of there. So while she went in for another round I escaped into the relative safety of a kid’s exhibit comparing the body to machines.

Next time we get the opportunity for a Saturday morning date, I think I might set the agenda.

Peace,

Leon