17 Months Before This Day – Engaged

Tempus fugit is one of the phrases often spoken in my Latin classes during my high school years. Mrs. Louise Taylor wasn’t wrong. Time does fly.

The older I get, the faster time seems to pass. Do you find that to be true?

Our granddaughters turned 20 and 14 this year. How is that even possible? Weren’t they babies just yesterday? And I won’t even mention how old our four sons are. Mercy!

OUR FIRST MEETING

None of these people would exist without their JJ/Dad and me (DD/Mama) meeting and deciding to get married. That was 52 years ago on the 18^th.

Many people thought we were out of our minds. We met on March 11, 1972, our senior year in college. By March 18, we were engaged.

We met when I called Hubby’s roommate to tell him the new dorms were holding an open house. His roommate, a friend from my hometown, expressed interest in seeing the new dorms. My friend told me he couldn’t come, but his roommate (Hubby to be) would love to. So, there I was. Stuck with some guy I didn’t know coming to see our new dorms.

At this point, dorms such as this were not the norm. They were made with suites of four rooms sharing a central living/study area and with a bath shared between two rooms. They were very, very nice.

I attended Birmingham-Southern College, the Methodist school on the western side of Birmingham, Alabama, and Hubby attended Samford University, the Baptist school on the south side of the city. Despite the distance between us, after that initial meeting, we managed to either see one another every night that week or at least talk on the phone.

You’ve likely heard the story of us spending the night we met (the 11^th) at a rehearsal for my small group preparing for the Concert Choir tour. After the rehearsal, we sat outside in the amphitheater for hours talking. We had so much in common, including that his mother was from my hometown, Andalusia, Alabama, and then we discovered that my mother was the sponsor of his grandmother who was in the Sunshine Club for older ladies. Mama did all kinds of things with his Granny.

JEREMIAH 29:11

God still makes plans for us. We only need to open our eyes and our hearts to His plans which are far better than any we could imagine. While doing our genealogies, I learned our GGG grandfathers knew one another. I often say God wrote our love in the stars from long ago. Part of God’s plan.

17 Months Before This Day - Engaged! @DDuPreeWilliams #blesssed #MarriageCovenant #HappyEngagementDay Share on X

Telling the truth here, I told him if he’d ask me to marry him, I’d tell him yes. I think I shocked him half to death but when you know, you know.

In the 52 years since that day back in 1972, we’ve reared four beautiful, wonderful sons.  We’ve celebrated the births of our two granddaughters, and this past August we renewed our vows on our 50^th wedding anniversary.

LOVE THAT LASTS TO ETERNITY

Every day wasn’t all roses. We, like all people, even those in committed relationships, have had our ups and downs. Good days and days that tried us. Through it all, we leaned on the One who brought us together that night all those years ago.

God is the center of all our plans, hopes, and dreams for us and our sons, our daughter-in-love, and our granddaughters. Psalm 27:13 CSB I am certain that I will see the LORD’s goodness in the land of the living.

Know that wherever you are in your relationship, be it just getting to know that special someone, or even after a long marriage, if you put God at the center, if you spend time in His Word every day, if you seek His will for your life in all things, He will be there for you. He will become the Rock upon which to build a long-lasting, loving, covenant marriage.

To my Hubby, my J—I’m so glad that God put us together all those years ago. We have been blessed in so many ways by our love for one another and our growing relationship with Him. Happy 52^nd anniversary of our engagement!

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Blessings, y’all!

 

I sang an arrangement of this when in high school and fell in love with it. A YouTube search failed to find thatt one but this one is very good. Such a sweet voice. And oh, how I love these words. The last line always, always slays me. “And, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.” Beautiful. At that tender age, I couldn’t imagine loving someone so deeply. Now, I can’t imagine not loving my precious husband thusly. Thank you, Abba, for this perfect for me man. I pray we all have a love like this. Blessings to you all.