Happy Anniversary, Jackie

Happy Anniversary, Jackie • Lady of the Pale Gold Hair

My dear Jackie, this day is a sacramental moment in time. It is the anniversary of our 19th year of marriage, and the 29th year of our awareness of each other. Today, a great circle closes, click, and another great circle opens.

Know for sure that my soul is at peace in the presence of your love, as surely as my body breathes in the presence of air.

The evidence of your power in my life I see every day in this splendid experience we call — “Life” — consciously paying attention to the magnificent moments of living each day in grateful praise to the Maker of All Things.

The major factors of life — when and where we are born, and who will be our family — are not of our own choosing, but this is where the journey begins. Freedom of choice fills in the rest of the story.

Now, even as we ourselves are becoming ancient, at least on the outside, you are still, and always, the shining star in my thoughts.

• You are the soft gray of early morning, when each new day awakens.

• You are the gentle embrace of silver fog that rests on the silent hills and moonlit lake.

• You are my moments of quiet reflection before first light.

• You are the gathering dawn in the east, spreading across the Great Plains.

• You are the mountains, crowned with shimmering pale gold light, announcing the blessing of another lovely day.

• You are the glistening droplets of dew holding tight to the stems of crimson fountain grass.

• You are the welcoming lights of home.

• You are my trust in the future, and the reflection of my memories without regret.

• You are a memory shared together in South Dakota, when we watched a pair of eagles soaring high on the wind, turning gracefully in the sunlit sky.

• You are my memories of Colorado, gifted with the vastness of the Rockies, and of Wyoming embraced by the splendor of the Grand Tetons.

• You are a symphony of grateful praise to the Maker of all Things who gives His blessing of peace under the big blue sky of Montana, the last best place in the shining mountains.

• You are the turbulent majesty of an icy mountain stream, skipping and splashing, and bubbling over slippery stones that were millions of years ancient when the first humans arrived in the vast immensity of North America.

• You are the strength of a great river, flowing through green mountain meadows, gliding with majesty and power through fields of sparkling wildflowers, smiling at the sun, waving to the wind, dancing to the far horizon.

• Your pale gold hair is the memory of ancient Celtic legends of mythical heroes and spiritual power, full of presence, witnessed in sacred places.

• You are the glint of golden helmets, rushing with rocket-fueled anticipation, streaming out onto that bright green field of dreams where legends live, to the thundering ovation of a tumultuous packed stadium.

• You are the golden gleam of trusting spirit, shared by young men and women who fight for the Lady of the Golden Dome, in public arenas where, somehow, victory is so often won at the last heartbeat.

• You are the strength in my heart, my anam cara, my soul friend, my compassionate presence.

• You and I are meant to find each other in the immensity of space, at the outer edge of a small galaxy, on a little speck of rock and water and air, on this little planet we call Earth, that is our world.

• You and I are meant to share life and time and love together, for a while, until that momentous day when we are told, “thus far you have come, but no farther.” (Job 38:11)

• Jackie, you and I are meant to be a blessing to each other, to share blessings with those whom we love, to share blessings with others who love us.

• You are the lady of profound respect who is always present in my conversations with the Maker of All Things.

Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” (John 10:14) All whom He calls His own, are well loved by Him who holds them in His hands, close to His heart.

He is the strong, steady light in my life. He is true north. Though I am the least of His creation, yet my Lord has always been generous with me.

Every time something absolutely amazing happens around me, I feel His presence around me, and I know for sure, and I tell Him out loud, “It’s You again, isn’t it? Oh yes, I know it’s You. It’s always You.”

I do not deserve any consideration at all, yet I have never been unloved. Instead, I am overwhelmed with grace unexpected.

Jackie, you are the evidence of His generosity.

Life and love are the most turbulent of sacraments, unlooked for blessings given to each of us by the Maker, Himself.

The gift of life is the first blessing, the exact moment when our individual stories begin. But it is the gift of shared love that is the greatest of all blessings, the ultimate generosity of the Maker, Himself.

Yes, Jackie, today is one of those sacred days, when Love smiles quietly behind us, touches us on the shoulder, and whispers, “This is as good as it gets.”

Dear one, consider this — the most obvious things in life sometimes pass unnoticed, especially when they happen quickly, right in front of us. But Heather and August have seen the obvious rather clearly.

Heather — “I think our whole family is full of good humans.”

August — “But Grandma Jackie might be one of the best.”

Yes, Heather and August, you are right about Grandma Jackie.

Happy Anniversary, Jackie J. Crawford, Lady of the Pale Gold Hair.

Thank you from my heart, from the core of my soul, for being my anam cara, my soul friend, my compassionate presence, at least for a while.