It has become a place I could not leave alone, or my quiet talks with her, nor the good coffee in the candlelight.”
–Louis L’Amour
Pard, come on in, the coffee’s ready, but my mind’s a-wanderin’. I was readin’ something on that there facebook and saw that Gary and Kathy Hines had their wedding anniversary and something in my mind perked up. I was a groomsman at that weddin’ an’ in the audience watchin’ the knot-tyin’ was a gal by the name of Annie Baker. It fell to me to take her home after the doin’s.
A storm had come up, and a few tried to get us to stay over until it blew through, but I reckoned I could manage. I had traveled two days before from an FCA conference in Estes Park, drove twenty-four hours and slept in the car across the street from the house of the bride. I remember the look on her mother’s face when I knocked on the door the next mornin’. Take a sip, I need one for I’m gettin’ off subject.
Ahhh, that’s better, now back to the storm. The night was dark, the rain was hard. I knew there was a moon up above, but with the dark clouds and rain it was nowhere in sight, no moonbeams shinin’ down as we traveled the road to her home in Pennsylvania. We were travelin’ the turnpike, and my innards were all in turmoil, and with the heavy weather bearin’ down, I decided to pull off the turnpike for a spell. It was a decision that would change forever the lives of several people, but especially this ol’ fencepost and Miss Baker. I wasn’t an ol’ fencepost back then, just a young splinter.
But in that romantic settin’, the trucks whizzin’ by, the lightning an’ thunder outside, an’ the rain beating down on the roof of my ’64 LeMans Pontiac, I pulled her into an embrace an’ asked her to marry me. Maybe it was a splinter, but she yelped (sorta) an’ said yes. No, I didn’t get down on bended knee, no I didn’t already have a ring, and almost didn’t get one, but that’s another story. There wasn’t even a thermos of coffee in the car that we could drink in celebration, but there was a bunch of released tension just like I’d gotten off ol’ Bodacious.
Pard, I’ll tell yuh, I was one happy feller! Ten months later we were married. Now I’m not a-sayin’ that Gary and Kathy’s weddin’ had anything to do with it, but it sure put the thought in our minds. The Lord works in mysterious ways, an’ Pard, don’t yuh forget it! A boy from Colorado, meets a girl from Pennsylvania, in Missouri.
Sure I’m smilin’, memories have a way of doin’ that do yuh. Either make yuh smile, or gives the gizzard fits dependin’ on the memory. Sorry for the nostalgia, Pard, but the Lord guides our steps and we need to be willin’ to abide by His advice. I for one sure did reckon that He brought her my way, and the knot the preacher tied (her brother Jon) has sure seen fit and tight.
Take a looksee in the mirror an’ yu’ll know what I mean about the Lord workin’ in mysterious ways. Gaze at those lumps–they came from yuh fallin’ on yur noggin’ ’cause yuh didn’t check yur cinch, an’ the good Lord has still seen fit to keep yuh around and use yuh for the Kingdom.
Vaya con Dios.