On the 40th Anniversary
December 18th is our couple’s 40th wedding anniversary.
Having done anything well for my wife, I suggested her that we go travel around the United States. We didn’t even have our honeymoon. After our wedding, we were never able to travel together as we wished. While I was planning things here and there for the big trip, my wife said, “Dear, let’s do something more worthwhile then traveling… It’s just going to be tiring, and all we going to do is just take some pictures…” To honor her request, I stopped the planning to use the travel money on something else instead.
But as if she still wanted to go somewhere, she said “Let’s go and stay at Max’s (my first son) house at the end of the year.” To be honest, the time it takes to drive to my son’s place is about 10 hours, so we would always make it there barely on time. The easy, fast way would be to take it by air. It’s only an hour and half’s flight time. But about 6 years ago, she had a stroke; 4 years ago had breast cancer surgery, and also had to remove her gall bladder. She knew herself that air travel is not an easy task because of her surgeries, and being in and out of hospital. About 2 years ago, we did get on the airplane to go to my son’s place, but as expected, my wife suffered from nausea and pain, and barely arrived at the airport in Nevada. From the medications for cancer, blood pressure, and cholesterol medicines, her body had become very frail, so I know that she cannot take the airplane freely.
To make the visit easier, and to lessen the burden of driving long distance, we reserved a motel room in the middle of journey. It was great to be able to rest for a day and to drive onwards. Through all the 40 years of marriage, with my son and daughter, I have 7 grandchildren. I give thanks to God’s grace.
Currently both my son and daughter own a house and raise their children.
Years ago, my daughter had to sell their house out in New Jersey and wasn’t able to buy a house, due to the high cost, but when the economy went down for housing, she was able to buy a well-built house. I have never owned my house. As a reverend, I have never had a whole house to be rented. Neither did I ever want to live in a house. I would’ve probably led a whole different life, had I not chose the path of reverend. The currently residence, Liberty Tower is more like a studio. It’s about 300 square feet of space.
Yesterday I visited with my daughter and son in law’s construction office in Santa Cruz.
They build a small guest house, and does mortgage as well. As if my daughter wanted us to live closer because we love their children so much, or feeling sad that we live in a senior apartment, really, we were there to consult for a small house to be built next to theirs. We were going to build once the permission from San Jose came out. On the way back my daughter asked me, “Dad, which house was the biggest one we lived during all our moving?”
She’s reminding me of the tough times we had before she had moved out to attend college. If the permit is allowed for the guest house, it would be around 700~800 square feet. “Probably the new house would be your biggest one!” While I hear her words, I am reminded once again of the short and long routes I had taken during our places of pilgrimage. Like the shepherd that changes their place of shepherding, during our 40 years of marriage, we had moved so many times. Sometimes our family even moved twice the same year. When the apartment fee rises, I didn’t want ask help from the church about the rising of cost of apartment, so I would move to another place. With my wife we recount how many, and Liberty Tower would be the 34th time. A real wandering pilgrim’s way.
Thankfully, even though I have led a wandering pilgrim’s life, God had held my hand. I have never complained to God about not owning a house. As Apostle Paul wrote, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake.” I live in thankfulness from those words. As a person’s point of view, it’s nothing to boast, I had dragged my wife into the hardship, but it was to be done.
But, as our Lord Jesus Christ who had no place to rest, our couple had so much more for the 40 past years.
(January 15th, 2012)
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Epilogue: 20 Months 
On the 40th Anniversary