What can I say about my lovely wife, my sweetheart? Well, lots. Connie has brought joy to my life ever since the moment we met. It was not love at first sight, but we did have an instant connection through my sister and her uncle and aunt having been schoolmates years earlier at the same college where Connie and I met. Connie and I sat across the dining hall table from each other for an entire week to kick off the school year, and wouldn't you know it, she fell for the guy beside me. However, she later came to her senses with the realization of who Mr. Right really was.It is neat that Connie and I became friends before we became romantically infatuated with each other. It was the summer after we met that we first exchanged letters, and something just clicked between us. Later on that autumn we had our first date, and I realized then that there was a real magic in the way I felt about this girl.
After working through some hurdles, we became engaged and I really credit God with bringing us together after a period of not seeing each other. When I announced our engagement to my mother, I was told: “Well, Marvin, she really thinks the world of you.” That really sums up Connie's devotion to others.
It was a hoot attending university with my sweetheart. I was so proud of her when she received her first scholarship while I had to be content with ordinary grades. It was also interesting running about campus with this beautiful little woman who looked so young. I remember one of our schoolmates, on my introducing her to Connie, asked if she was my daughter. Through the years of our marriage, I'm sure there have been other times when people wondered a little bit. I have always been okay with that and with Connie outshining me in the classes we took together. In fact, I was fortunate to have her help in my trying to understand the subject matter.
I am grateful for Connie's gift to me of our three precious girls. I appreciate the great job she did in raising these kids while I was so busy with farming and law school. Once I finished my heavy studies, I tried to make up for lost time with my kids by spending every non-working moment with them that I could, but kind of forgot to spend more time with my sweetheart. Despite some problems that resulted, we survived in our marriage and as the kids got older, Connie plunged into her education once again.
I am so proud of her accomplishments in obtaining her education degree and her success in teaching. When her teaching contract ran out, Connie did not dismay, but spent a couple of years finishing her honours in English and nailed down scholarships and funding to pay her own way through her Master's program. Then somehow she talked me into following her to live in a foreign land (sorry, Albertans), and here we are.
When comparing notes on our roles in our respective marriages one time, my brother remarked to me that the women we married would definitely be faithful to these two farmboys. I do appreciate Connie's faithfulness to me. Apart from the occasional Roberto Alomar or Pierce Brosnan lapse, Connie has been a faithful partner and friend. In recent years we went through some troubled waters, but Connie was always faithful and committed enough to me to try to make it work. I love her, admire her and respect her for that.
Now that we are off in La La Land, away from the distractions of kids and kitties, Connie and I have watched our relationship boom again, as each looks out for the other and as we can spend some quality time together. I appreciate all the years that I have been fortunate to spend with Connie. It has been neat to watch her grow and mature as a person. It was an adjustment for her, the eldest of four siblings, to marry the baby of another family, but she has handled it well. It was neat for me, too, how Connie kind of doubled as the little sister that I never had. She also introduced me to a whole new set of younger siblings and terrific parents-in-law that I have been able to enjoy all these years.
What can I say about this amazing person? Connie, I love you and cherish you. You are my best friend. You are always there when I need you. With all my recent disability experiences, you never once suggested that I was lazy or told me to get off my worthless butt (except maybe in jest, or when you thought about the actual net worth of my butt).
You have been a wonderful wife and companion all these years. Thank you for all the socks you have folded, all the delicious meals you have fed me (even some of the interesting earlier ones), for every time when you listened to my problems and concerns and helped me through a situation.
I treasure you. You are so special that, in the words of Billy Talent, “I would have given my life for you.” I will try not to cry, but I want to relate the words of an old song to you:
You are so beautiful... to me
You are so beautiful... to me
Can't you see
You're everything I hoped for
You're everything I need
You are so beautiful... to me
I love you, sweetheart. Thank you for loving me and sharing your life with me.
- Marv
PS: I am looking forward to one day in the future when I can call you "Dr. Connie"
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