DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WERE DOING 42 YEARS AGO TODAY?  Well…I do.  I remember it well.  It was the day I married my wonderful husband Dave.  And it was a God-thing!  A wonderful, blessed, God-thing.  I’m going to tell a little story that has absolutely nothing to do with my blog.  If you don’t want to hear about it just skip down to the next heading on this page.

In the summer of 1972 I broke off a relationship with a man I was in love with.  It was very painful for me.  I remember crying across my bed and saying to the Lord that if I was ever to get married He (God) would have to point him out to me because I was through dating. (You know…all the theatrics of the young).  Well fast forward to a few months later.  I meet the roommate of my cousin who attended college in Southern California.  She asked if I would come to her wedding if she married.  I didn’t really think she would ever get married so I said yes.  I lived in the San Francisco area at the time and we lived about 500 miles apart.  Well, wouldn’t you know it, I receive an invitation to an October wedding. I kept my word, and my friend and I drove 500 miles away to attend the wedding.  I stayed with my cousin who was the maid of honor.

The wedding happened and something else happened.  Dave ushered me to my seat. Hmmm…I thought.  Little did I know but he was “Hmmming…” too.  While the ceremony was taking place a thought came to my head, a very loud thought, “That is who you are going to marry”!  I took a double take on that thought and turned to look at that handsome man, standing over there in a line of about 8 or 9 ushers, sweating and looking uncomfortable.  Hmmmm…that’s who I am going to marry?  I questioned.  It was as if it was a voice outside of myself.  Well, I had earlier told the Lord that He would have to tell me who I was going to marry if I was ever to marry.  Was this the Lord telling me that now?  I actually remember hoping so.

One problem, I didn’t even get to meet him during the reception.  He was disappointed that he didn’t get to meet me so he left for home.  Remember, that we are in Southern California far away from where I lived.  Dave left and I left.  I went with my cousin to the Bride’s parents home after the reception for a private wedding party dinner.  I was hopeful of meeting that handsome man.  When I got there he wasn’t there.  Oh well, maybe he isn’t the man I was supposed to marry.  After all, if I’m going to marry him I at least had to meet him.

Well, back to Dave (that handsome young man), as he traveled down the LA freeway system something told him to turn around and go back.  He hesitated and had that feeling again.  He got off the freeway and decided to go to the Bridal dinner.  After all he was single and it was a free dinner!

About a half hour later he walked through the door.  MY KNIGHT IN SHINING TUXEDO!  He was surprised to see me there because he had no reason to know that I would be coming.  He had actually left because he hadn’t had a chance to meet me and was disappointed.  But there we were, our eyes locked, as if a “knowing” passed between us. (I totally made up that last sentence because it sounded like it was supposed to be there)!  He followed me around, we talked a little, flirted a lot, and he asked me out on a date two weeks away.  I said yes.

Well, it finally came time to say goodnight and go our separate ways.  He asked me for my address and I wrote it down.  I lived in Alameda at the time and when he looked at it he said, oh is that over by Pasadena?  I said no, it is by San Francisco.  He looked at me with bewilderment, looked at my cousin and asked her, “is she kidding”?  He looked back at me and I said “no, are you coming”.  There was a long silence in the air.  Then he looked at me and said, “Yes, I’ll be there”.  And he came.  And the rest his history.  We traveled by air up and down the coast of California for four months before he asked me to marry him.  We married 4 months later on June 23, 1973.  Before we married we had spent 23 days together when all our visits were totaled.  He stayed at the home of my friend’s parents when he came up and I stayed with his parents when I went to Anaheim.  It made for an interesting courtship.    And here we are, 42 years later and still in love!  I do think it was God that spoke to me that night at the wedding.  Dave was the best thing that ever happened to me.   HAPPY ANNIVERSARY HONEY.  I LOVE YOU.  AND I AM PROUD TO LET THE WORLD KNOW!

The End

NOW FOR THE REST OF THE BLOG

The last full day before taking off for my home stretch.  I have a little less than 4,000 miles to go.  Actually it is about 1700 miles to go if I were to go the most direct route.  But direct I am not.  I have lots of little adventures planned, places to travel, more things to experience.  I worked at home all day preparing for my last jaunt.  I still had a lot of Airbnb places to schedule.  The last night on the road is still up in the air but that can wait.  The next 8 nights are all booked.  8 nights 7 places.  I will pack everything up for the last time tomorrow.  I have a little bag that I will take in each night that holds only that which I need.  My days will be full, my nights of sleeping taken seriously.  I must have proper sleep to drive so much alone.  I’ll try to write in my blog if I have a chance but don’t be surprised if I don’t make it every single night.  My sleep will be more important than my writing.

Back to today.  I stayed at home all day but something kept drawing me to go and have some prints made of something I have been giving to people.  I had run out and needed to have more done before I left this area.  So I went to the UPS store and had copies made.  And there was my divine appointment for the day.  I met Robin, the UPS proprietor and our talk ensued.  Robin is a believer but has not fellowshipped within a church for a long while and feels the draw and need to do so.  She opened my eyes to a lot of situations that are happening in the Coeur d’Alene area in regards to churches and fellowships with other believers.  She confirmed how I felt when I attended church on Sunday.  I won’t go into it now but I will say that I did not sense the joy of the Lord present in the worship time.  After spending a week in Redding where the main purpose of “church” is worship and praise (for a long long time) is a key central part of the service I just felt a lacking of spiritual joy.  She is frustrated and longing for that time of closeness and praise and communal worship unto the Lord.  I think we had a fruitful discussion and I was able to pray for both her and her worker right there in the UPS store.  It was awesome!  I see only one other person (2 counting her employee) during the whole day and God opens the door for me to bless them and to be blessed by them.  Perhaps as I write these little stories you may not see the significance in them and wonder what is so great about them.  There is so much said that I can’t say here because of time and space, but believe me, if one word I say is encouraging or opens someone’s eyes to a new and deeper longing for the Lord, it is worth it.  I call it a divine meeting.  A meeting that God orchestrated.  God often times orchestrates those meetings just for me, for the word I will hear and receive, or the lesson I need to learn from the conversation.  And, as I’ve said before, every day I am learning.  And I hope that part of that learning is learning to love God more and more each day and to know just how much He loves me.  I AM A CHILD OF GOD AND HE LOVES ME WITH A LOVE THAT PASSES ALL COMPREHENSION.  HE LOVES YOU THE SAME WAY!

I asked Robin what her wisdom was.  She was quick to respond.

Robin’s wisdom:  “Life is too short to worry about your house being clean or your kids growing up—you blink and you are there—enjoy life’s moments.”

I also talked to her employee who loves the Lord. Here is Krystal’s wisdom.

Krystal’s wisdom:  “I wish I had known when I was younger how important school is.”

Krystal is 21.

Before I left to go to the UPS store I ate some popcorn and had a lot of debris in my mouth from the kernels.  (An important fact to know).  I needed to rise my mouth.  I saw a bottle of water in a plastic bag and thought I would just use that.  I took two big mouth pulls of “water” into my mouth (now remember I was going to rise so had my throat closed) and I immediately realized I did not have water in my mouth.  I had two big swigs of Woolite laundrey detergent in my mouth.  I quickly went into the bathroom, spit it out and started rinsing my mouth over and over.  Oh my goodness it was gross!  I rinsed and rinsed and could not seem to get it all out.  I tried to gargle because some had settled in the back of my throat where I had it closed earlier.  I started gagging and the burning was bad.  I kept rinsing to dilute the substance that had made a thick soapy coating on all my membranes.  What kept me safe was the fact that I had intended my pulls of water into my mouth for rinsing rather than swallowing.  After I felt a little better I called poison control and they said I did the right thing but not to drink anything for a while.  I was to crunch on ice cubes to dilute the coating in my mouth and then should have something cold like a popsicle.  I asked it a McDonald’s soft serve would work the same and the person on the line said yes, but to have the ice chips first.  So that is what I did.  I was forced to go down to buy an ice cream cone.  What a prescription!  It seemed to work.  There is still a little burn spot in the back of my throat when I swallow but if I am not thinking about it there is no pain.  Now I just want all of you to know that it is sometimes hard to admit some of the things I do.  But oh well, I guess I’m just human.

Came back to the house and Brian and Tracy and daughters were here.  We had a dinner of leftovers from the fridge and we still have leftovers.  We ate very well and I enjoyed the times I cooked.  I have had such a good time getting to know my nephew as an adult.  I love all my nieces and nephews but it is difficult to have close relationships with each of them because we all live so far away.  This week had brought a new closer relationship with Brian that I shall always cherish.  Ericka and her daughter Lilly are also part of the wonderful time I have had.  Ericka is such a special little lady.  I have truly been blessed to be in her company and to get to know her daughter in a special way at such an early age.  It will be fun to watch Lilly grow and mature through the years and she will always have a special place in my heart.  She is a very special, amazing little girl.  I am so grateful for the generosity of Brian in gifting the time to us to stay in his rental house.  He rents his house out by the night and it is a great venture for him.  A lot of work but good returns.

Brian works for FIRST RESPONSE FIRE RESCUE.  After he left the house he was called to report to a fire in Medford Oregon.  It is a 10 hour drive and he and a group of other men from this area will be heading out in the morning.  He works with the first response rescue, providing equipment, personnel, and fire retardant.  WOW, we were so fortunate to have had him present with us this entire week.  This time of the year Brian is out fighting the fires that rage across the U. S.  He is only home for short periods.  I miss him already.

So the end of the day has come.  Everyone is still talking to me and I am still writing.  So I guess I will close and hope that I will be back tomorrow evening.  Nine days and counting.  I don’t dare come home early.  I want Dave to have plenty of time to have the dishes done.

Good night.

BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES

By Kathleen Martens

June 23, 2015

Day is done

Week gone by.

I must leave

Time to cry.

But instead I

A smile I chose

These beautiful memories

I will not lose.

But tuck away

Deep in my heart

Separated in time

Memories won’t part.