"We have been married 49 years"! Sandy said leaning forward in her seat at the restaurant.
I noticed a certain gleam in her eyes.
A smile from a familiar face.
Not possible I thought! Here I was sitting in a Bob Evans restaurant with my new boyfriend of a few months.
Ken and I were driving back from a trip and had stopped to eat.
RANDOM! Yet such a familiar glance.
"49 years?" I commented and then John spoke a confirming yes.
49 years and you know I see that your wife is still in love with you and his instantaneous reply was yes as I am with her.
I thought how wonderful it was that this older couple who had obviously been together for a very long time would be acting as if they had just fallen in love.
Going back through my life I remembered all the relationships I had wished for this longevity and all the broken promises and mistaken thoughts.
How is it possible that here sits the validation of what I thought an impossibility? How long did you and your husband know each other before you were married I asked.
Sandy's reply sent me reeling in my mind.
3 months! Married only knowing each other 3 months was ABSURD! Or was it? I looked over at Ken and realized that he was thinking the same thing that I was.
God had sent this couple to us to use them to relay one message and yes all my concerns were just consumed with the knowledge that yes God was blessing this relationship and yes there was nothing to fear and yes the love that I had negated to just more talk was real.
The drive home was more quiet than Ken and I were used to.
I realized that once again God was right here and I felt so unworthy of his love.
Actually unworthy of any real love.
How could I ever accept more than the superficial compliments that I have known my entire life? The plastic glances towards me that always dissolved in time, the thousand I love yous forever that only proved that forever meant a brief span in time? And here directly in front of me at the restaurant I had witnessed the CONFIRMATION of the possibility of the reality! Yes it had been for Ken and Julie to see.
A special gift from God.
Just another fingerprint.