Partner and "Completer"

I think the biblical phrase "help-meet" carries the idea of one who is a partner and one without whom you would simply be incomplete. Let me tell you what I am talking about.

I just finished a run of the play Lil' Abner. My son Chris was in it and my daughter, Carol Leah, was in it. My son-in-law did some artwork for the play. My wife worked most nights in the concession stand. It was truly a family activity.

However, my wife played a different major role for me. She heard my lines so much that if I had become unable to perform, I think she could have taken my place. Each night of the play we would ride from Montgomery to Millbrook (where the play was), and we would go over my lines and my songs. We would sing them all the way there. One night she was unable to do this with me. That night I stumbled on a couple of songs that I had not been stumbling on. (We won't talk about opening night, however.) She said that she was a lot more nervous than I was when I got on stage, and that she would be all tensed up, just wishing for me a good performance, and that I would be able to remember the words (something that was a chore at times for me.)

As I thought about this I couldn't help but reflect on how important she is to my life. She has always been there, at least the nearly 33 years we've been married. Most of the time in our lives if a mistake is made with finances, or other things, it has been because of something that I have done. She has always been there, and has always found a way to make it for us.

One time, several years ago, she was asked who her best friend was. She answered, having never really thought about it in those terms before, "Dean is." And it is true. We have had friends all through the years. We love our children beyond the ability to express it. But we have always been best friends to one another. For us that is not a platitude, it is a reality.

Do we ever get angry with one another? We are two different people sharing a life together, sure we get angry with one another. Do we ever hurt the other one's feelings? Do we --- you get the point, we are like any best friends - even in disagreement we never waver in caring for each other, and loving each other.

I know this. I cannot imagine life without her. I honestly believe that God knew I could not make it without her, so He gave her to me.

She is my wife. She is my best friend. She is my completer. And our love grows stronger even after 33 years together.

Just some thoughts from the mind of Kelly's Korner.