On a blustery January day 39 years ago, I met a girl who loved God and Shakespeare (in that order). She was smart. Creative. And as pretty as English china. Outwardly decorous, inwardly stubborn—Jane Austen meets the Rebel Alliance. I thought I’d found heaven. I had and I hadn’t. At first we flared up like a firework stand, but then we got scared and put on our flak jackets.
We were a mismatch. She was a soft-spoken church girl who’d secretly turned away from God, then privately clawed her way back to Him; I was a former atheist with too much personality and a very public passion for God. But somehow we thought we could make it work. Same God, same Shakespeare, and yet it wasn’t enough. After two tumultuous years of dancing in flak jackets, we gave up.
We’d apparently done something wrong.
Some time after that I ran into her at the same coffee house we’d gone to when we first met. Absent the need to “make it work,” we were astonished at how much we enjoyed each other. We began meeting regularly just to talk (Dutch treat, of course; we were only friends, after all). Soon regularly turned into daily. Anytime anything of significance occurred (roughly every 5 minutes), my first thought was to call her.
Before long, we realized what our sniggering friends had known all along: we were a thing, a whatever-it-was-we-hadn’t-been-before. And both of us had abandoned our flak jackets. She looked at me one night and said in very un-church-girl language, “Oh, what the hell!” and kissed me. Not in the way you kiss a friend.
One month later, at a ridiculously romantic spot along Monterrey, California’s 17 Mile Drive, I asked her to marry me and took her picture as she said yes. Romantic? Oh, yes. Except that I then opened the back of the camera (thinking it had one of those state-of-the-80s film cartridges—it didn’t) and ruined the entire roll of film. Nevertheless, the image of her saying “Yes!” is firmly mounted in the photo album of my memory.
We set a date for the ceremony and began attending prenuptial-bliss counseling. We took a test. I should have studied harder. The result? We were dangerously different (“tell us something we don’t know”) and were advised to consider spousal alternatives.
We’d apparently done something wrong.
We got married anyway. There were bumps in the road, of course—hello, this is marriage. But we never put our flak jackets back on. And we never stopped being best friends. Well, OK, sometimes we did. But when we did it hurt so much we just had to go and tell our best friend about it.
And then there were kids. We apparently did something wrong there too. And something wonderful. Parenting is never just one or the other. It’s always both.
39 years later she’s still beautiful. Still my best friend. Still loves God and Shakespeare. And still loves me. And the firework stand still threatens to go up in flames sometimes.
We apparently did something right.
Congratulations for the wonderful blunder.God bless you abundantly.😀👍👍👍👌👌👌🙏💐
Wonder-blunder? ;>) Thanks, Francis!
Yes ,it’s wonder because it’s the greatest blessing which you have received from the mighty one .Take care.My pleasure.🙏💐
Oh yes!
Fantastic, Mitch. Here’s to many more years together. 🙂
Thanks, Trev!
Congrats to both of you. You did a lot of things right. Paul and I will celebrate 58 years in September. We met in high school at the ripe old age of 13 and fell in love in our senior year. We too are best friends even though we were total opposites. We, like you, have partnered with God in this marriage and now you can’t even tell the differences that once defined us. May God bless you with many more celebrations.
You too, Kathy!
Congratulations. Stay on the path.
Thanks, Geoff, we will.
How wonderful and beautiful to see a relationship from the mans perspective and not just the woman’s. May God Bless you both with many more happy healthy years together under His grace Mitch! Blessings.
Julia
Thank you, Julia!
Lovely story, Mitch. Thanks for sharing it.
My pleasure, truly, John.
Nice story.
Hearties Congratulations! Your love story reads like poetry! Such a wonderful melody with notes high and low. Here’s wishing that may the river of love always flows…..
Thank you, Harshi.
Aww! Congratulations!
Thanks, JYP!
Such a beautiful story! Happy Anniversary to you both 😁
Thank you, Christina.
I love the “taking off the flak jackets” analogy! A couple,who were longed married, once counseled my wife and me to “never go for blood.” We never have. Unfortunately, my first wife and I did. But that’s a different story.🙃
It is indeed, but you’ve kept growing, I know, my friend.
Indeed, I have. Thank you, brother.
First time I have ever teared up while reading a blog post. Beautifully written. Inspiring. Touching. Thank you.
I’m so glad it touched you, Liz.
Truly Lovely story…. congratulations to both of you!
Thanks, Praveen!
So beautiful lovely “love story”!
Happy Anniversary to you both & Congratulations,
Many many blessings, დდდ
Thank you so much, Gol!
You did Mitch, thank God. Congratulations to you both.
Your analog camera story reminds me of the one snowfall in the San Fernando Valley in the twelve years we lived there. I took about twenty pictures, none of which developed.
Of course, your engagement was infinitely more important than a snowfall in Woodland Hills, CA. But, the snowfall is still a good story of the good old, analog days.
Hey, I get it, Rob–snowfall in Woodland Hills is not a common event!
Sounds like a perfect match to me! Love that you stayed best friends through it all! 💓
Oh, I love this.
May the two of you share many more years of martial bliss. This is truly beautiful:
“39 years later she’s still beautiful. Still my best friend. Still loves God and Shakespeare. And still loves me.”
Thank you, TrE.
Mitch, the story of the two of you it’s beautiful ❤️. Wishing you both health and happiness in the years to come .
Thank you so much, Andrada.
Congratulations… Wonderful !!
Thank you!
You sure did something right. Congratulations, and may God bless the next 39 years!
Thanks, Nancy!
This made me smile from ear to ear! It is just how God works – lets us stumble around thinking we aren’t doing it quite right until we stumble into the truth that God was always guiding our steps and it is all a beautiful dance!
“Dance” is the perfect word to describe it.
Congratulations to you both – God bless as you keep finding wonderful times together in spite of all that is terribly wrong!
Thanks, Pete!
Congratulations and wishing both of you many years of togetherness 🙂 !
Thank you, Shanthy!
Congrats on your wedding anniversary! Our prenuptial-bliss counseling had no compatibility test. You’ve proved the experts wrong.
Actually, our wedding anniversary is in September, but we met 39 years ago this month. Thanks, Rosaliene!
Congratulations. Wow, God and Shakespeare – that could never be wrong.
I know, right? ;>) Thanks, Andrew.
Best thing I’ve read all day. You couldn’t have written it any better. I’ve found that the more mismatched you are, the better things seem to work out. You obviously did something right. 😉 Blessings to both of you. 💫
Thank you, Michelle, you too.
Congratulations on 39 and wishing you many, many more.
Thanks, Rocky!
I love your “Mitch & Trudy” stories! As I read this one, I thought about God’s timing. It wasn’t His timing the first time around, but when you ran into each other again, then it was His perfect timing.
Seems your right, Mary, and thank you.
Well doing Mitch.
Thanks, Gary.
Aw, that’s beautiful, Mitch! <3
Thanks, Annie!
Wonderful story! Thanks for sharing!!
My pleasure, AB!
What a beautiful story Mitch. May you have many more to come!
I’ve been taking some online courses and the one I’m in now is Social Psychology. According to the “experts” opposites do NOT attract. I think you throw a glitch in that. My son asked me one time what my wife and I have in common. We like different music, movies, reading and on and on. She’s an extrovert and I’m quite the introvert. But I told him that those were all “stuff and fluff”. What we have in common is a deep love for God and we strive to do His will to the best of our ability. The core values, the spirituality, is what’s important.
On the nail head, Gregory.
Such a delightful post, Mitch. With Mary above, I love the “MItch & Trudy” stories! I agree that the maxim “opposites attract” seems to be the norm for many marriages–our included. There’s a saying about marriage being like a rock tumbler, smoothing away the rough spots in our personalities and reaction-patterns–something like that. Perhaps that’s the explanation!
I like the rock tumbler analogy, Nancy! And thank you, as always, for your thoughts, dear friend.
Everybody should be so lucky!
Thanks, Anthony (though I don’t think luck really had anything to do with it)!
I agree! It was destiny. Thanks for a beautifully written story. It certainly moved me.
that was during colby’s clubhouse, a lucky # for colby, if he is in my city.
Right you are, Rudy!
Heartwarming ❤️
So great! So uplifting! Happily ever after! Just what the world needs. Congratulations!
Thank you!
This was so sweet of read. Congratulations 🥳
Thanks, Manu.
What a beautiful story ^_^ Happy for you both. 🙂
Congratulations!!
I loooove learning how people met and proposed. Thank you for sharing!!
My pleasure, Leenda.
Pingback: Something Wonderfully Wrong – MobsterTiger
Congratulations!
Thanks, Tracy!
Blessings to both of you!
Thank you, Jim!
Beautiful 👏 And congratulations!
Thank you!
Mitch,
Love the story and Happy Anniversary. Many more years I hope will be yours.
Gary
Thank you, Gary.
Pingback: Something Wonderfully Wrong – CURIOSIDADES NA INTERNET
So good!
Thanks, April!
What a sweet way you have to resume your romance and life with your beautiful girl! Congratulations!
Thank you!
Pingback: Something Wonderfully Wrong – Great Feeling
An awesome story. I’m glad that you stayed with your best friend!
Me too! Thanks, Michael.
Nicely written
Thank you, Gladys.
What a fantastic tribute! It brought tears – the good kind – to my eyes. Happy anniversary, you crazy kids.
Aw, thanks, you old mushball.
Pingback: Something Wonderfully Wrong – Jackanori, (MPD)
But the story of life is wonderfully described
So you’ve done it again, Mitch. You have written something that could easily be produced in a movie. How ’bout it? I suggest you pitch it to KERA public Television.
Thank you, Grandma Fowler. Actually, I’ve borrowed heavily from our love story and personalities for a rom-com movie project I’m working on. I take the old advice to “write what you know” seriously!
What a wonderful story!
I loved this story, Mitch. Very creatively written. You didn’t say how you worked out your religious differences. Did it matter much in the end?
“Religious differences” weren’t/aren’t an issue for us. We’re both simply Jesus-followers (Trudy from an early age, me as a formerly-atheist young adult convert). Thanks, Evelyn.
Pingback: Goodbye, Marilyn | Mitch Teemley
Pingback: My Biggest Hits of 2022 | Mitch Teemley
This is just precious!! 🙂
Pingback: How I Invented Coffee | Mitch Teemley
Pingback: Life, Meet Purpose | Mitch Teemley