Remembering with Gratitude (09/26/2024)

Today is a special day! 56 years ago today, at 4 p.m. on the grassy knoll at Iowa State University I met Kenneth Wiskus. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was a life changer for me. Today, I am so full of gratitude to the LORD for the blessings that have come to me from the LORD through Kenneth. My mind is so full of memories, my heart is so full of gratitude, they beg to be expressed. And I realize two things this morning: the importance of a moment and the importance of life’s choices.

That moment in time, September 26, 1968 seemed like just another day of college with too much homework and not enough time. I went to help build the charity blast booth our house was sponsoring more out of a sense of obligation than goodwill. But good things can come from good even if it isn’t given cheerfully. The men of Kenneth’s house and the women of my house paired off to work on the construction of a huge pyramid maze for Blast, a community chest fundraiser. We were the last to pair up so actually we didn’t choose one another, we were the ones unchosen. But it worked out. God does take care of fools and short Irish women; I was doubly blessed that day.

Now, 56 years later, I look at all the choices that have been made, the big ones like relocating, pursuing additional education, careers, and I look at the small ones like how we spent our time as a family, chores, playing the “good thing/bad thing” game at dinner. Through it all, today I realize how blessed I have been with Kenneth by my side, my love, my friend, the father of our children, the grandfather of our grandchildren. No one can make me laugh like he does; no one knows my expressions and what they mean like he does.

And he still surprises me. Last week, he was running errands, and when he came home, he found me and told me there was a surprise on the counter. I went in to find peach custard. Peach is my favorite flavor!!! And he noticed it was the flavor of the day, pulled in, and got some just for me. He’s like that, don’t you know.

When I have gone through grueling treatments, he has been with me every step of the way, even when it wasn’t pretty, even when it wasn’t fun. The last treatments were three days in a row every three weeks: 9 hours the first day, 4 to six hours the second and third day. He never left. And he made me laugh. He kept me company. I knew I wasn’t alone.

Today, I thank the LORD for the gift of Kenneth and for that day when he brought us together. And today I thank Kenneth for being the man he is and always has been. Life’s choices matter. His choices for me and for our family mattered every single day.

And I am reminded of a line in the movie “As Good as It Gets” – “You make me want to be a better man.” As I reflect on Kenneth and his presence in my life, I have to admit that he makes me want to be a better woman, a better person. I only pray that I can be that kind of person in his life and lives of others.

That is part of our call as disciples, to invite others to goodness and to a loving relationship with the LORD through our very lives. May we all live into our discipleship and through our lives invite others to the fullness of life in the LORD.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.