60 in 60 #2

I am reflecting on and writing 60 blog posts about 30 people and 30 events from the last 60 years.

 

#2. My wife Carolyn is my best friend. We have been married for 35 years, having met at the YMCA and both coming to faith in 1985. We met in Perth in our mid 20s, only to discover that we both grew up in Geelong and lived three streets apart. Carolyn is so many things to so many people. Carolyn is a loyal friend and a loving and supportive spouse who has put up with a great deal of challenge and stress as a result of being married to me. She has stood beside me faithfully through it all and I’m proud to say that our relationship is getting stronger with every passing year. She is beautiful, sensitive, smart and funny. She worries more than she should and is always thinking of others and how best to care for them. She is a devoted and loving mother and I know our four kids treasure her and give thanks for the way she has always done everything in her power to look after them. She is now loving the opportunity to be a Grandmother, ‘Ama’ to our three beautiful grandchildren and I know the support she offers to the kids as they adjust to parenthood is invaluable and deeply appreciated. Carolyn is a caring sibling to her three remaining brothers and was a devoted daughter while her Mum and Dad were still alive. She is not content to grow old and fade away, rather, she is taking on new challenges, studying communication and mental health with a view to working in some sort of counselling field. She reads and researches across a range of subjects, always looking for answers and seeking to understand whatever is going on. She was already a great listener and her natural gifts will only help her reach this goal. 

She has the most beautiful smile. Her laugh is infectious. Her mind never stops. She has a strong faith and sense of purpose. She has a heart of compassion and empathy and gentle spirit but she is not a pushover, she has a quiet resolve and strength and won't put up with people's crap, especially not mine!

I am grateful that God brought us together and that He has blessed us in so many ways but the greatest blessing in my life is my wife Carolyn. Her love has covered a multitude of my sins. I hope and pray that I can be the husband she deserves for as long as we live.