By now, you all know that numbers are my thing. I love working with numbers, accounting, statistics, measurements, and more. In my former life in the Park and Recreation industry, putting together the budget for the department was just plain fun. So a new important number popped up today for me, thirty-four.

In January of 1989, George Bush was sworn in as President, Phil Collins’s song “Another Day in Paradise” was popular, Tiramisu was a trendy food item, Mcdonald’s actually tried to add pizza to their menu, and a cold snap brought frigid temperatures to central Illinois. Also, on January 8th, 1989, in the town of St. Joseph, Illinois, John F Bruns took the hand of Suzanne M. Crider in marriage.

We could not have been more nieve about the task that was before us in the blending of these two families together. We were the ‘Brady Bunch’, John with two boys, Suzanne with two girls, we just didn’t have Alice. The plans we made for our youthful years and then retirement were exciting.

Now, thirty-four years later, we are still navigating the best we can in our children’s lives; and our retirement plans, well, they too took a left turn a couple of years ago as well. Suzanne couldn’t have put it any better when she commented this morning, “It’s been a wild ride!”

So what’s in store for us on this historic day? Church & help take down the Christmas decorations, then back home where we will be taking down our own Christmas decorations. Maybe we’ll start a new puzzle, share a meal the best we can, or sit by the fire and watch a movie, it really doesn’t matter. Anyway about it, our marriage, our relations ship with God, and our relationship with each other has never been better.

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Genesis 2:24