7 years married today! And it’s her birthday!

Today!

Is a special day!

I love you, Laura Dooley!

As ashamed as I am to confess, when I first met Laura, she wasn’t exactly the apple of my eye. Why? Because my eyes were swollen, head sweating, face bleeding, and the ground all too comfortable after losing the fight against lustful pursuits and anger issues; I didn’t know how to discern love. And thankfully, when church friends noticed by the courage to make me aware, my face stopped bleeding and eyes recovered from the swelling; but I was still on the ground. Through prayer by the grace of God, that’s important to repeat, ….by the grace of God, discernment was given at the outstretched hand of a woman who’d noticed me since the day we first met.

I may have asked the question “Quieres casarte conmigo?” (Will you marry me?), but it was me taking her hand to lift me off the ground of a beaten and confused life to a married one.

Don’t get me wrong, she came from a dark place as well, but that perspective is of a different story entirely—and possibly told for another time.

Laura, by the glory of God in her character, is helping me become the man of God I intended to be through faith in our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. From a secular perspective that may sound cliché, possibly even from a religious perspective, but it’s true. The nature of my developing relationship to the Holy Spirit, our Helper, is of a love only Laura has the energy for… Have you met me? Have you seen my BIG 5 personality trait evaluation? Actually, rather… Have you seen Laura’s!? If it isn’t obvious by my writing, I feed on social environments. Laura however… does not. That means I can be a very exhausting person, and Laura is a special kind of woman to be dealing with someone like me, my treasure from heaven. So please, feel free to give her an applause, a hug and, if necessary, a shot of tequila—I’m joking.

For our anniversary we went to that big ball thing in Dallas, the Reunion Tower, for a wine tasting event that was very educational until about the 3^rd bottle… let me explain. Of the two of us, I’ll probably have a glass of wine a week whereas Laura might have a few sips of wine a year. Now don’t get it twisted, this WineShark event idea was all Laura’s in case I’m brought before God—…The woman whom thou gavest to be with me…—it’s her fault. I’m just a man. I don’t know any better *says the guy who drinks a glass of wine a week. Nothing crazy happened. But remember, Laura takes sips of wine a year, not glasses.

The wine specialist whos’ name escapes at the moment organized this event was already a little drunk, but handled himself well as he lectured; he communicated with style while simultaneously pouring our glasses; and his associate, she was an awesome server as she kept him soberish while feeding us. The event was for about 2 hours, and everyone started out quiet. It was about the third bottle in to our tasting when people started to cut loose and talk as the specialist continued teaching us everything we needed to know about wine. But see, Laura… she didn’t particularly enjoy the flavor of the first 4 bottles we tasted and so guess who finished her glass before the next round of tasting began? You guessed it, this guy!

So it was about 3 bottles in to our tasting that I started to feel a bit relaxed, which, I think, might’ve been a good full glass by that point, it’s hard to say. Thankfully we had eaten about an hour before the event and they were providing us some munchies, so everything was kosher. Then I grabbed one of my little turkey slices they’d served and chunked it clear across the room landing perfectly in this rich dude’s glass, his head jerks up frantically scanning the room, he meets my eyes just staring at em like an idiot. Then he gets up, walks over to our table, looks at Laura, then at me, then at Laura, then back at me, gives me a million dollars and walks back to his table. I mean… I thought it was a good shot too, but a million dollars! That’s crazy! And also a lie, I just wanted spice things up a bit, but anyway… moving on.

I mean just look at that beautiful woman of mine! A daughter of God! A masterpiece! There is no greater honor than being her husband, and I pray we cherish as many moments as God graces us with as we wait with patience the coming of Jesus Christ. This experience of love, who could fathom? I’m truly blessed and thankful for her! Oh! And did I mention its her birthday! How old do you think she is? Don’t ever answer those questions, it’s always a trap, but she’s like 5,659 years old! She’s of Asian decent, that’s why. Just look at her gorgeous face! You can kinda see the chink-ness in there. It’s adorable!

Welp, that’s not the end of my story, but it is for now… I’m going back to enjoying my time with her while I have her on this amazing day!

P.S. I love you honey, thank you so much for saying “Si” to our journey in the work of God with me, you my babaes!