Love Boat
The gondola seemed to glide effortlessly over the smooth surface. Then there was the music. An accordion player and singer added to the ambiance of this perfect evening. We were winding our way down a narrow canal toward the open water of the Grand Canal. I was sitting very close to her as the sun dipped below the horizon leaving a golden glow in the sky. Venice is a great place to be when you’re in love. But this love story started much earlier.
I Saw Her Standing There
I can still remember going to work that day. I arrived, put on my apron and walked toward the front of the supermarket. As I turned the corner and looked down the aisle I saw her standing there. In that instant I knew that this job just got a whole better. She was beautiful. In the early seventies the dresses were much shorter and with her long brown hair I couldn’t decide what to look at. So I just stood there for a minute taking it all in. I don’t think she noticed me staring, but I can’t be sure. I really don’t remember what happened next. There are plenty of memories of the next forty years, but not of that day. I can tell you this for sure. I had just made visual contact with the woman who would spend the rest of her life with me.
“Well, she was just seventeen
You know what I mean
And the way she looked was way beyond compare
So how could I dance with another (Ooh)
When I saw her standing there”
– I Saw Her Standing There (The Beatles)
An Incredible Summer
Later that day I met the beautiful girl I had seen in the aisle. It gets better. My job was stocking shelves and carrying out bags of groceries for customers. This meant I spent most of the day hanging out in the front of the supermarket near the cash registers. Her job was cashier, a.k.a. check-out girl. See where this is going? Carry-out boy meets check-out girl. On this particular day I decided part of my job was to check out the girl. And that’s exactly what I did. Her name was Chris; she had just graduated high school and she was working part time. In the coming weeks we became good friends and we had our first date in July. It was an incredible summer.
Here, There and Italy
Flash-forward 40 years to another summer and there we were in Venice and Florence and Rome. Sometimes you need to push the pause button on your regular life and go to Italy. It was the trip of a lifetime. We were like kids again. Exploring new places. Places new to us, but full of really old stuff. Rome wasn’t built in a day and who paints elaborate murals on the ceiling of a church? Michelangelo, that’s who. Our tour of Italy wasn’t just about ancient ruins, artistic masterpieces, breathtaking landscapes or beautiful cathedrals. It was mostly about experiencing something amazing together. It was about us. Celebrating 40 years of amore. (My new favorite Italian word.) Chris has been the best part of my life for as long as I can remember. One of my favorite Beatle songs expresses what’s in my heart.
“I want her everywhere
And if she’s beside me I know I need never care
But to love her is to need her
Everywhere, knowing that love is to share
Each one believing that love never dies
Watching their eyes and hoping I’m always there
I will be there, and everywhere
Here, there and everywhere”
– Here, There and Everywhere (The Beatles)
My Love
In his song, ‘My Love’, Paul McCartney wrote: “Only My Love holds the other key to me.” I could tell you about all the ways Chris has made my life better, but she’s always telling me to keep these blogs shorter. Since I can’t resist, here’s a little bit about My Love. She’s a woman of great faith and integrity. She pursues excellence in everything she does and expects the same from others. (That includes her husband.) Chris is intensely loyal and she’s my best friend. She’s a wonderful wife and an amazing mother and grandmother. She demonstrates love by helping and serving the people God puts in her path. And she’s always on time…except when I make her late. Because of her humility I may be in trouble for blogging about this, but it’s all true. Let’s hope in this case the truth will set me free!
In My Life
This summer my son married the girl of his dreams. That’s exactly what I did in September of 1974. When you’re busy living your life you don’t always realize it when incredible things happen. You meet someone special or have an experience that changes the course of your life. This stuff doesn’t just happen. It’s part of a wonderful plan. When you encounter love or kindness or happiness or healing or friendship, you’re encountering God. Sometimes He looks a lot like a regular person. He brings good things into your life because He wants you to be happy. When He brought Chris and I together, we were just what we needed. I’m a better man because she’s in my life. Riding in that gondola I was sitting beside the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.
“But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I’ll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more”
– In My Life (The Beatles)
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