Forty-Four And Counting

Here she is with our grand daughter.
My wife.
Today we celebrate 44 years of sharing life together......legally, might I add.
44 years! Man that is something that old people do.
Oh yeah, I'm old.  Notice that I said that I was old, and not her. She is still my bride, the love of my heart.
I could write a billion pages about this woman and not even scratch the surface of what an incredible person she is.
She loves the Lord and each day is a celebration of that love.
She is the most unselfish, giving, caring person I have ever known.
She is my wife.

We met on January 19, 1970 at the Campus Crusade for Christ office in Gadsden. She was a Junior at Gadsden High School and I was a freshman at Gadsden State Junior college. I had been a part of CCC since my senior year in high school, so me and my best-est friend, Jim Bentley had stopped by to hang out. I happened to have my guitar with me and was working on a song. I'd like to say that it was a masterpiece but the truth be known I don't even remember what it was. But I do remember that young girl that came strolling through those doors and into my heart on that winter afternoon. Miss Vicki Campbell! She didn't even know I was alive. Quick, I had to do something. "Think of something, Michael...." She disappeared into an office (she was working as a secretary for one of the staff members). I took my guitar and tracked her down. Going into the office where she was working, I sat down and continued to work on my song. She thought I was staring at her....but I was in deep, poetic thought. Naw...not really, I was staring at her, but I couldn't tell her that.

One thing lead to another and after much research and info on this beautiful young lady, I mustered up enough courage to call her and ask her out on a date. She accepted. Our first date consisted of us going to the OTHER DOOR (the coffee house that was ran by CCC) where I played a set, and then to Pasquale's Pizza. There among the horde of other young people, with our 6 inch cheese Pizza and two cokes, I serenaded her with tunes from the juke box. mainly Edwin Starr's "WAR".  Don't ask me why....it was the end of the sixties and early in the seventies.

I would love to say that it was all sunshine and lollipops, but our first year together (remember when you went steady?) was rocky. We were together, we fought, we broke up, we were apart. We were back together, we fought, we broke up, we were apart. Ahh!! Such is young love.  In 1971 I asked Vicki to marry me. She accepted. On September 1, 1972, Vicki and I were married in the courtyard of 12th Street Baptist Church, in what her grand mother referred to as "That hippie wedding."
I remember standing down front with the pastor's (yep, we had two pastor's...wanted to make sure this thing took) when Vicki came out in her wedding gown. Never had such a beautiful woman ever been seen before. She was radiant and beautiful and a few other descriptive words that don't even exist. She took my breath away.

Forty-four years have passed and what I thought was love on that September night back in 1972, pales in comparison to what I know is love today. We have shared a life together and the Lord has blessed us beyond measure. We have two sons who love the Lord and their lives reflect it. They, in turn, have married two wonderful women in their own right. I am blessed to be the father in law of Robin and Heather. We also have two incredible grand children (but isn't every grand child the most wonderful thing to ever come along?)Tyler and Ashley.  Like I said, God has blessed my wife and me in ways that money or material possessions could never replace.
So here on this day, I truly do feel like George Bailey. I am the richest man on Greene Street.
Happy Anniversary, Vicki!
I love you.....

God on you....
mb