The Story of Us: till death do you part, just remember....

“Till death do you part.....?” 

Billy and Joe would tell me this ,with a smile,  every time I saw them.  Billy was our youth minister and Cody had asked him to be the best man. Then he changed his mind and asked his dad. It was the right thing to do, I guess. Poor Billy. 

Joe. He “took” to me the moment I walked off the yellow Ryder moving truck in the parking lot of Immanuel Baptist Church November 1992. God rigged that. He confronted me when I was dating someone I shouldn’t have my junior year. He is still who I call when I need prayer. He was in his 50’s and another groomsman. 

Chad made #4 groomsmen. My sister was my choice for maid of honor. I'll be forever thankful for her. Choosing bridesmaids was a hard job. I am absolutely positive I offended people and I worried over it, but not too long because Cody had asked 10 guys to be ushers and I needed a job for them to do. While the wedding would be big, 10 was a bit much.  

Winter began to thaw and Spring was bursting forth with it’s colorful bouquet. I was excited about wedding details while at the same time rehearsing doubt in my mind. But it all melted away when we where together. The attraction was stronger than any I’d ever known. It was getting stronger not weaker. I needed a clear head to think. 

Cody would be graduating from college. April 19th, a year after the OKC bombing, he received a Bachelors of Art in Communication. He was headed to Southwestern in the fall. With or without me. That had always been the plan. We’d talked about moving down there, I’d transfer. But in the end it made more sense to stay where the house and the work was, we were gonna need the jobs. I had begun to teach privately more and more.  

We’d even thought about Southeastern Seminary 15 miles from where I’d moved from. But we had no money to move with and no job to go to. Living in North Carolina would have to wait. But I had decided to go for a visit on spring break. Cody went to his Aunt’s in Arizona and I boarded an American Airlines plane alone headed for Raleigh. 

There was one more person I wanted to see before I committed a lifetime to Cody. But would HE want to see me? I needed to know....