18 years and counting!

There are quite a few of you that I can tell you what you were doing 18 years ago today. Not watching the ground hog! You were listening to Tim Reed propose to Deanna Oakes on WTNT in Tallahassee. Somehow that seems wrong.....Tim proposed, but I ended up married to Will. I guess I'm possibly a "two-timer", hopefully this does not make me a bigamist (well sort of).

After Will proposed, I went on to my dentist appointment. How the Dentist could get anything done is beyond me. She even held my appointment open when I was 20 minutes late. I really liked her and still use the leaded crystal bowl that she gave us as a wedding present.

I guess that evening still is kind of a blur in some ways, but I do know that we ate dinner with my Mom and Pop at Quincy's Steak House (one of our favorites) and then headed out to have drinks with Will's folks and some of the family. I'm not real sure who all was there at that one, but I do know that Cathy smarted off and volunteered to dance at our wedding and Will yelled "Done". History in the making. She was stuck.

We then headed out to a bowling alley to bowl, since we had already made plans with Elise and our friend Tim to do that. What a hoot! If I remember it correctly I beat Will. I wonder if that's the reason we don't bowl anymore? Just kidding honey.

Well in honor of our 18th anniversary, today Will and I are going on a field trip. We are heading out to Devil's Lake State Park to do some investigating. You see that is where the Oakes Family Gathering will be held this year and I have never been there before. It's hard to plan something when you've never seen the facilities. We are having it in the Red Oak Pavilion, which is very appropriate if you ask me. Anyway, everything is pretty much closed down around there, but we still should be able to see what the directions are and what the building looks like on the outside.
On the way home we will stop at the Hotel/Conference Center/Casino that we had our Governor's Conference on Tourism at a couple of years ago. While I was there we enjoyed spending time with a man who was the Governor's personal chef at the Governor's mansion for years. Now he is the head chef there for conventions etc. He is good friends with a friend of mine. While at that Conference, I enjoyed eating some of the best food that I've ever eaten in my life. I understand that the restaurants in there use his recipes on their menu also. We are going to check one of them out, but I don't know which one. There are five in the complex. Maybe it will be a new place to eat. If they don't look like something we want we can stop back at some place in Wisconsin Dells.

I cannot believe that we have been together over 18 years now. What a life! It's been a roller coaster ride sometimes but I cannot say that I would change anything if I could go back. Well, maybe a hair style choice or something, but for the most part I feel that we've done the best that we could and to the best of our abilities tried to figure out God's will in all of it.

Things were not made easy by moving to Wisconsin. I know that it was a hard transititon for us both. We left behind so many friends in Florida, but thankfully we have all managed to at least stay in touch with each other. I know in my heart that raising our children in this "small town" atmosphere has been the right thing to do. In lots of ways, they have kind of grown up in Mayberry. The ability for them to ride their bikes around town and just hang out with friends has been great.

That being said, who knows where God is going to lead Will and I in the future. I know that I feel a stirring in my heart to make a difference and to possibly find a new ministry, but I have no idea when or what that will be. I really feel led to help the poor and less fortunate in their daily lives as well as spiritual lives. It's like a burning in there, but I don't know where that will end up. Of course Will says my motto is to "feed the world". But let me tell you this......I'm like that song "Please don't send me to Africa". I like warming my pew in a comfortable church....I have no need to go to the jungle and really am not feeling led to go that route, but I could see a help center in my future.

I digress.....I guess that I should just say it's been a wonderful 18 years and here's to another 18 and more. I got a great guy on February 2nd, 1990 and I don't plan on letting him go. I mean he even quit smoking and chewing for me...is that love or what?

Have a great "my engagement day"!
dea