Post Seventy-Three

MARRIED
May 26, 2019
Lexington United Methodist Church

This occasional journal began ten years ago at the time Terry was diagnosed with cancer. It was my companion through the years of her illness and my struggle to be an adequate caregiver. In the years since her death it has been an outlet for my reflections on the experience of adjusting to the unwelcome reality of life without her.

Little by little over the course of time I have felt the persistant force of hope and joy pushing against and subduing my grief. The bearer of that hope and joy came in the person of Jane Heithoff. Our coming together has been a long process of working things out, accepting the history we both bring to our relationship, recognizing our mutual woundedness, and embracing the beauty of a second opportunity to love. In one post I described it as "Dancing in the Dark." I am pleased to report that over time there has been been more dancing and less darkness.

On May 26 Jane and I were married in a ceremony encorporated into the Sunday worship service at Lexington United Methodist Church. We selected LUMC because of the love and support they extended to us during the year I served that congregation as interim pastor. Becca, Rachel, Carl and Mary; our adult children, stood beside us. It was a time of great joy and a declaration of our commitmemnt to embrace hope, joy, and kindness in the life we will now share.

There have been many obsticles to overcome on our way to this happy moment. Some have expressed impatience with us for taking so long. Jane and I believe that we have taken the precise amount of time necessary for our circumstances. We made our commitment to each other clear to one another long ago. We are very happy now to make that commitment public.

Jane saved my life. She invited me to embrace light and joy. She did not take away my grief. Instead she accepted my grief and helped me accomodate my life to its reality. She taught me that grief and joy, sorrow and happiness can coexist in the same heart. It is a lesson worth learning.

We took our honeymoon at Point Betsie Lighthouse were we lived in the keepers quarters for a week. I can think of no better location to represent this new chapter in our lives.

Dave Gladstone