Our Love Story (in a nutshell)

We met the last week of my junior year of college in Iowa.  Les was a city police officer.  One day I was riding my bike and Les drove up next to me on his Goldwing motorcycle and asked if I wanted a ride.  Um, yes please!!   We saw each other just about every night that last week until I left for Washington for the summer.  Les actually drove out with his parents that summer and he spent a week visiting at my parents house.  We dated that next year, my senior year.   I knew from about our first date that I wanted to marry him!!  We had originally planned on getting married right after my college graduation, but we had a bit of a bump in our relationship (we hadn't even dated a year!!!) so postponed the wedding a year.  After graduation I got a job in Yakima, Washington; Les quit his police officer job and started long haul trucking.  We visited a few times, wrote many letters, and spent lots of $$ on long distance phone calls!

We got married May 8, 1982 in Iowa.  We had a second wedding reception in Washington.  We settled in Iowa.

 I had a great job for a large advertising company. Les was a long haul trucker for a few years until he became an electrician for the same city he was a police officer.  After 4 years, we had our first baby, Kristopher Gerrit.  I went back to work full time but after six months of that craziness I quit and became a full time mommy.  Almost 3 years later Leslie Grace came along.

 About this time, Les decided he wanted to try out for a state trooper job.  When Leslie turned 2, he went to police academy and became an Iowa state trooper.  It wasn't long before he decided he wasn't cut out for that kind of work.

  He went back to an electrician job, but wasn't content.  We talked about moving to Washington (his idea - not mine!!).  Les had a job interview in eastern Washington and while out there, we decided to drive to Lynden because Les had heard so much about it.  We both fell in love with this little town and decided we wanted to live here.  Through some total "God things" we ended up moving about a month later.  Les then applied for a UPS driving job - he was a preloader for about 3.5 years while also working for a local electrician.  I got a job with a construction contractor and they offered to build us a house.  We still live in the same house!  And I work for the same contractor.  It's been almost 23 years since we have lived here.  We never regretted the move.

Today is our 33rd anniversary.  It's weird knowing that this is most likely our last anniversary we will celebrate together.  We won't be going on a trip, we won't be going out for dinner, we won't even be able to have an "I love you" kiss.  But, we have been blessed with so many more amazing years than lots of people have!   When we look back, we can totally see how God was weaving everything together.  Tough times helped us grow.  Fun times made for good memories.  We always loved each other "tons and tons" no matter what happened.  He was always my best friend.

Les always gave me flowers on our anniversary.  Lots of fun surprises!  The best was one of the first years we lived here.  We went out for dinner at the place on Chuckanut Drive.  Right before we received our dinners, the waiter brought me flowers.  What???  How did he do that?   And today was no exception.  Not sure how he did it, but I had flowers delivered today. 

This disease has not taken away our love.  Les can't talk and tell me that he loves me, but he can make a heart with his fingers to tell me. Caring for a loved one is a true testament of true love.  Believe me, I wouldn't do this for anyone else!  We are so thankful that God brought us together and we are thankful that He has given us 33 amazing years.

My flowers today