May 2, 1977 was the day I began my journey as the bride of Mr. Peter E. Bowers. It is a journey of great adventure. Sometimes sad. Sometimes totally over the top hilarious!
I have learned SO much with my dear husband. Like how to garden and can our own food. In our early married years, we canned everything from green beans to pickles to tomatoes. Pickles were the most fun, or maybe I should say funny. We pulled one cucumber off the vine that was over a foot long and decided to pickle it. We put it into a huge jar and measured ingredients out and fixed it just like the recipe said. After waiting the appropriate time for pickling, we pop the jar open to taste the rewards of our labor. After spitting the pickle chucks into the garbage and drinking tons of water we realized we must have been off on how much salt should have been used. Somehow one tablespoon had became one cup. And the strange thing is, Pete remembers this story totally differently than I do! But this is my blog, hee hee!
As I look through the pictures we have taken through the years I am amazed to remember my man with long silky hair, overalls and a beard. He maintained the beard for probably 10-12 years and then decided to shave it while I was away from the house one day. When Theresa and I walked into the room, he turned around with his 'naked' face, and Theresa burst into tears and ran from the room. She had never seen her dad without a beard. He grew it back. Guess the women in his life had a bit of say-so about his looks!
With 33 years of marriage behind us, I still see Pete as a wonderful, loving, extremely intelligent man with great integrity and a love for His God. He has faced down the giants of his childhood and stands victorious with strength that God has provided him through it all. He has faced down corporate ways with honesty and respect for the law and excelled in his profession. He has loved me through all of my physical problems and let me know on every step of the way that he will always love me.
I pray God allows us to grow stronger in Him and closer to each other. That in the years ahead, we will provide blessings for all we meet, and our love will continue to grow until it is totally ridiculous!
Pete, you are my best friend. My gentle lover. The joy God gave me 33 years ago. You are the one I belong to, and you belong to me. I love our inside jokes. I love that our lives are so entwined with each other that we finish each others' sentences. Thank you for the laughter and the strength through the tears. Thank you for choosing me to be your bride. Thank you for being my man!
Pete, I love you!
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (New International Version)
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
