For As Long As We Both Shall Live

On Thursday, November 16, 2006, I asked Glenda Jean Dunlap to marry me. She said yes.

Here's how it went down:

My parents and I went over to her parents' house, where Glenda and Benjamin were having their regular Thursday dinner. I called her to have them all come outside with their coats on. I was waiting at the end of a candle-lit path down the front walkway of the house, and my parents stood on one side of path in the lawn. I had her parents stand on the other side and the proposal began.

First, I talked to Benjamin. I told him that there was something I hadn't told him yet. I wanted to tell him that I love him and I want us to be a family. After asking what he thought about that he nodded and said, "That's fine." I then said that I needed to talk to Mommy about some things and had him stand next to Glenda's parents.

Then Glenda came over to me. I reminded her that the day was my 10,000th day of being alive. I said that, even though we've known each other for a majority of those days, the last 160 since we'd been dating were the best of my life. I shared that I want to spend the rest of my days with her and then I popped the question. After a warm embrace, I reminded her that there was one more piece of "business" that I needed to do, and that was to put the ring on her finger. After the little proposal ceremony was over, everyone congratulated each other and we began the process of informing family.

What was special for all of us was having all of the parents there for the proposal. After all the time and love that our parents have invested in our lives, I figured it would be neat for them to be there when we made such a big step. They were all very appreciative.

So now comes the wedding planning. Glenda and I both thought it would be cool to share our thoughts on the process, so we've set up a wedding blog. Along the same lines, we also set up a wedding Web site at the Wedding Channel. Most of my comments about wedding stuff will be contained to those sites and you'll still get my good ol' fashioned thoughts and rants here.

Smiles!

I don't feel a day over 8,472!

Today is my 10,000th day of life. No more am I bound to quadruple digits for my daily count.

Several years ago, I wondered how old someone would be (in years) when they've lived 10,000 days. I figured roughly 27.4 years and then got especially curious as to when MY 10,000th day would be. First, I figured it out the hard way. Taking leap days into account I figured out that today would be number 10k. Then, to verify, I found a Web site that automatically calculates such things and it verified the date.

Then I got to thinking: It's all well and good to celebrate yearly birthdays, but that has no real bearing on how you live your life on a regular basis. We package the good and the bad into blocks contained by when we wake up in the morning and when we go to bed.

Sometimes, right before I go to bed, I catch myself thinking, "this was a really good day!" The pieces all came together to make for a really rewarding experience. I praise God for each of those. Then there are those that make me think, "I don't know if anything else could have gone wrong today." The sum total of experiences leaves a lot to be desired. I then pray that I will learn lessons from that day and ask God that He help the next day to be better.

We should not discount the importance of each and every day in our lives. Recently one of our City Council members lost her husband to a heart attack. One day he was fine, and the next day he was gone. Thousands of Americans said goodbye to their loved ones on a September morning years ago and never expected the terror that would take place and affect their families forever. Those are the tragic days that we can never anticipate but will change us so deeply.

We must try to find the most good out of every day we live. Sure, there are the really good days like birthdays, wedding days, graduation days, Thanksgiving Days, etc. But every other non-"special" day, we should see how much good still lies therein. We should bless the Lord for a little child slurping the milk out of their cereal bowl. We should thank God for being able to hang out with friends to watch a football game. We should always be grateful for every good thing that happens...every day.

Have a good day, friend. Smiles.

Super-Quick Update

After a very stressful couple of weeks at work recently, things are a lot less relaxed approaching Thanksgiving Day. As hard as retailers are trying, I refuse to get into the Christmas spirit yet. Let me eat my turkey and stuffing first, damnit!

Things with Glenda and me are great! Big news coming soon...