This Friday I am travelling back home to California for the nuptials of one of my very best friends from high school. Jenny, or Bernice as I like to call her (it's a not-so-long but not-very-funny-if-you-weren't-there story), is getting married to her longtime sweetheart Greg.
I'd like to dedicate this post to telling you all the wonderful things about Jenny.
Jenny is one of the most fun-loving, free-spirited, life-loving people I have ever known. It is impossible to spend more than 5 minutes in a room with her without enjoying a good belly laugh. She lights up every room she enters with her quick smile and bubbly personality. But do not be fooled by that light-hearted exterior. Jenny is a woman of great depth. Her thought-life is filled with considerations of love and faith and life's meaning. She is fiercely loyal to her friends and would drop anything to help those she loves.
Jenny has seen me though some of the happiest moments of my life and some of the most sad. Her notes of encouragement passed between classes always made me smile. Her constant support during times of heartache were unwavering. From the moment we met in junior high school band class - the first day of 8th grade for me and 7th for her - we were fast friends. And in the intervening 20 years (wow - has it really been that long?!?) life has taken us far away from each other - her to Davis and Zimbabwe and San Francisco and me to South Bend and Chicago and Ann Arbor and Seattle and now here. But no matter how long we go between conversations, the connection has not wavered.
She made a beautiful bridesmaid in my own wedding 4 years ago and I am so elated to watch her walk down the same aisle that I, my mother, and so many of our other friends have walked down to start her journey as no longer just a woman but a wife, a daughter-in-law and (hopefully someday) a mother.
To Greg - I'm sure you already know that you are committing your life to one of the strongest, most caring and most loving women in the world. Never forget that Jenny is a Daughter of the King and deserves to be treated with the highest love and respect.
And finally, two quotes from the author of my favorite book and one of the great biblical teachers of our time:
"What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility."
Leo Tolstoy
When asked his secret of love, being married fifty-four years to the same person, he said,
"Ruth and I are happily incompatible."
Billy Graham
Embrace your differences and make a decision every day to love one another.
I wish you many blessings as you begin this journey of your life together.
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