By Dixie There is an old Yiddish proverb that says “We plan, God laughs”.
My husband Mark is a planner. I find old and new notebooks everywhere full of lists. He makes lists for cooking meals, buying tools, fixing and building things. He makes lists of what we need to take on trips, packs the night before and tells me when we are leaving. And he forgives me when I say “I’m almost ready”. Sorta.
Planning is necessary and good, but Mark and I often look at each other and say “Two years ago, would you have imagined…”. Sometimes it is about something really good and surprising, but usually we are rolling our eyes after one of our SIX doggos have chewed a shoe, thrown up on the couch or peed on the floor.
If you have followed our adventures on Facebook, you know our lives have changed a whole lot over the past couple of years. We got married last year when we were both 60, me for the first time! We decided to celebrate this miracle thoroughly and planned a honeymoon a month rather than one big one. We’ve been to Hilton Head a few times, Punta Gorda three times, Helen three times, and Savannah. Mark is a musician and we both love 70’s music so we have been to lots of great concerts in Atlanta and Macon. This past July, we bought a camper and have seen so much beauty at GA state parks this Fall. I attended (was dragged kicking and screaming) to my first Ga Tech game and they won! For real! That was another miracle! They WON! (Much love to my Tech friends! Remember I DID wear the whole Tech outfit thingy and had no red and black on. I even clapped a few times).
We are both really, really enjoying our crazy, chaotic married life together.
So yeah, we are happy. But our life isn’t perfect and our plans for monthly celebrations were sometimes thrown off course in this past year and a half. I totaled my car in what had to be the slowest accident ever. I didn’t hit the brakes and wasn’t even sure I hit another car until I saw the steam pouring out the front end of the car. (Yes, it was my fault, no I wasn’t drinking and yep I wouldn’t ride shotgun with me either). A tree fell on the roof of our home in Macon (a storm did it and unfortunately it was a neighbors’ live tree so hello again State Farm). Mark was diagnosed a year ago with cancer (completely a surprise). I had some dental issues after biting into a really good but not worth it praline on River Street in Savannah. Getting that tooth repaired led to more issues, some weirdly long waits for appointments, lots of Tylenol and antibiotics, and painful procedures still not completed months later. We have had a lot of odd expenses that popped up. And like everyone else, we are constantly amazed at the high prices at the grocery store, the erosion of common sense and the stock market, and how scary the world seems.
But…we remind each other who is in charge and it ain’t us. I am grateful for that.
I am grateful that only my pride was hurt in my car accident. I am grateful the tree that hit our house didn’t come through the ceiling directly above where we were both standing. I am so very grateful that Mark’s cancer was found early, treated and he is doing great. I am grateful we have insurance to cover most of our medical challenges and the money to take care of the expenses as well. I am most grateful to God, who protected us through all of this, gave us the ability to laugh through it and the good sense to turn it all over to Him.
I am grateful for my marriage to this wonderful man. I have no doubt that God brought us together. Who would have thought that two almost 60 year olds who had never met, didn’t know anyone in common, and were slightly if not completely jaded about relationships, would have met in April and married in September? Neither of us planned that scenario.
Remember the COVID lockdown? Not one person had that one planned either. It was a scary, uncertain time.
But during those long, lonely months I read a sign outside a neighbors’ house that read:
“God Has Not Forgotten You”
And He didn’t. And He hasn’t. No matter what you have planned, and no matter how those plans work out, His are bigger. Much bigger.
Merry Christmas!
