From: Dave Rhodes, Palm Springs, California
To: Dorian Rhodes, Palm Springs, California

To my beloved wife, Dorian, on the occasion of our 16th anniversary…

As Pastor John Cowan softly closed his leather bound book with a smile, he looked at us and said, “I now pronounce you husband and wife”. A little twinkle in his eye betrayed his delight as he turned his attention to me and continued with, “You may now kiss the bride”. I lifted her veil and did so, right there in front of the author of the little leather bound book and everyone else in the room, including my mom, Mary Ann Kelly. Life had hardened her a bit by then but not enough that she couldn’t shed a few tears in disbelief that there was actually a woman on this earth who proved crazy enough to claim me as her own.

There were many other witnesses in the little mountain chapel that day – some that we could see and a lot that we could not. In the pews hewn of pine there sat her mom, Phyllis, and her maternal grandparents, Don and Peg. On the other side a few of my cousins watched and behind them were some longtime friends of mine. Friends of hers took up the rear on the other side, and eventually they all became friends of ours. Family from either side sat here and there and in the ether there stood the friends and family that we had invited with a prayer – her uncle Ted, my Dad, her uncle Robert whom she had never known because he was lost to a war of long ago, and others who stood unseen, but we could feel their love and approval of that day.

Nobody but the author of the little leather bound book knew for certain where we would be in sixteen years, but we hoped, and that hope held us together, along with contentment and most important of all, love for one another. On that day sixteen years ago I took Pastor John’s suggestion to heart and lifted the veil to kiss the one who I knew that I couldn’t live without, and she kissed me and the room full of the seen and the unseen approved and hoped right along with us.

Over the years we have seen changes that have challenged that hope. My mom has gone on to join the world of the unseen. Certain friends have drifted from our life together and are writing their own futures without us. We have been destitute and blessed, sometimes within months of either one. Sickness has at times battered us and depression has tried to make us widows. But through it all, one has had the other to count on, to offer support, and to lift up and cherish. One has had the other to love, and that love has made it all worth living.

Happy 16th anniversary, my dearest.

Dave & Dorian Rhodes

Palm Springs, California

Now 17 years married and still going strong!