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.
- 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 for allowing us the blessing of peace under the big blue sky of Montana, in this 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.
- You are the glint of golden helmets, bobbing with rocket-fueled anticipation, streaming out onto that magical, bright green field of dreams to the thundering ovation of a tumultuous packed stadium.
- Your pale gold hair is the memory of ancient Celtic legends of power and magic performed in holy places, full of presence.
- You are the golden glint of trusting spirit, shared by young men and women who fight for the Lady of the Golden Dome, on that sacred green field where, somehow, victory is so often won at the last heartbeat.
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 strength in my heart.
You are the lady of profound respect, who is always present in my conversations with the Maker of All Things.
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 know for sure, “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.”
You are meant to be here.
You are meant to share life and love together.
You are meant to be a blessing to each another.
You, and everyone you know, and everyone you don’t know, are well loved.
Consider this — the most obvious things in life sometimes pass unnoticed, especially when they happen quickly, right in front of us.
But I’d say 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.