Of Life and Times

In two days' time Elaine and I will be enjoying our 13th wedding anniversary. If there is any observation we have noticed and commented on consistently, it is that time is running faster at our age than it used to when we were much younger. Our current weeks are seeming to pass as quickly as our days used to when we were in our 20s.

This is my second marriage and Elaine's first. Up until about a week ago I just assumed that we were still newly weds. Imagine my surprise when Elaine made a comment about which anniversary this is and I realized that we are nearing almost one and a half decades of marriage. What happened to the time? Where have I been all that time? I swear we just just moved to Hawaii and enrolled our children in Laie Elementary and Kahuku High and Intermediate. Our eldest, Eleanor, just graduated from high school and met and married Vlad from Ukraine in college, Anna just started having children, Paul just met Tammie from Indonesia, Marie just moved to the mainland, and Elizabeth just entered the fourth grade.

Wait, let me get myself caught up. Elaine was just released from being department chair after 10 years. Eleanor now has three children, each several years apart. Anna has four children, the oldest of which just turned 11 years old. Paul has two children and is about to graduate from college. Marie is still living on the mainland. Elizabeth, our baby graduated from high school, moved to Wyoming, and married David, and got an 8 year old son in the bargain. She and David are just celebrating their first anniversary next month. And our hanai (unofficially adopted) son, Trevor has graduated from high school, served a two-year mission for our church, and just got married to Alyx. She seems like a very nice young lady.

Some people may say that 13 is an unlucky number, but from where I stand, in the last thirteen years Elaine and I have had too many blessings sent our way to feel unlucky.