February 11th, 2019

February 11, 2019
 
              Happy Valentine’s Day this week to all of the very special people who view this blog and who care enough about others to experience love, joy, and also grief at times. This holiday may seem fun but superficial in some ways, but it can be more than that.
              The subject of Valentine’s Day gives me a chance to talk about my husband of nearly 45 years. If you have read my book, you know that he is a cowboy and that hands-on experiences helped him to heal from the death of our son.
              My valentine, my husband, is a rock. He has always been someone I can lean on, depend on, and know without doubt that he is solidly in my corner. We have been through so many experiences together, some of them devastating, and he has never waivered in being a good husband – in fact strong in all his relationships.
              Many years ago, he had to walk away from the family farm/ranch where he thought we would be for the rest of our lives. When Josh was two years old, my husband had to move us away from the small ranch we had bought and let it be sold before we lost it. A few years later he would again have to move us away from a place and job where we thought we would be permanently.
              Every time disaster at one level or another has struck, my husband has been strong, able to cope, and always there for his family. He has strong faith coupled with a strong work ethic and love of his role in the rural area where we live, and he shares and nurtures those things not only in himself but in everyone around him.
              In this era when so many men are divorced, estranged from family, abandoning children, etc., we need to admire and encourage the men like my husband. Do they have faults and shortcomings? Of course. Can we see the true gem and its shine even if we have to scrape through some surface distractions like a geode? We had better.
              God gives us the people in our lives, and as I have said so many times, when we commit to love we also sign on for all of the joy and all of the possible grief. Thank God for those special people who make it all worthwhile.