November 26th, 1979 changed my life. Up to that day my life was work, church, Amway and my wife and not in that order although if you allocate time I think I could be found guilty of ignoring my wife who I will say is darn near perfect. Now when I say near perfect don't get your underwear in a wad and say I am lying. Sure she makes mistakes but when you look at the big picture it don't get any better than this.
OK, back on track: Just a little bit of review before that date would be in order. Shouna, my wife, and I are both wound pretty tight. That means we run hard and play hard or in other words we are busy folks. This is kind of like a nut does not fall to far from the tree (look at our parents). We had been married five years and moved from Weatherford, Oklahoma to Dallas to the Chicago area. Shouna was a full time music student at Southwestern State University in Weatherford then North Texas in Denton, Texas then the Chicago Conservatory of Music in Chicago. She also had a job for a short time in Dallas which is actually a great story I will relate some day. I was working for EDS/Ross Perot in Dallas then transferred to Chicago to work downtown Chicago. Actually we had signed up to go work in Iran but as you know that became a mess and actually there was a book and movie made about what we did there (On Wings of Eagles). Anyway in Chicago we settled in pretty quickly and got recruited into Amway which turned out to be a fun deal that Shouna and I could do together and it allowed us to meet a lot of folks from all walks of life and to see all of Chicago and the surrounding area plus travel extensively. We were extremely busy and having kids was not a priority but also we were not avoiding having kids if you know what I mean. In fact after being married five years we became concerned that we could not have kids so we started taking tests to see what was the problem.
I guess just knowing other friends were having kids right and left made us wonder what was the problem. Plus we knew a lot of friends who were not able to have children or lost them during pregnancy so we just wanted to know what was our situation and the possibility. Well the good news and bad news is there was a giant snow storm in Chicago and you might guess what folks do when there is so much snow and ice that you cannot get out. Nine months later on November 26th, 1979 it snowed again but only four inches which is a dusting by Chicago standards. Also that day Wynter (get it? the name?) was born and my life changed forever. That day I buckled my seat belt more often, I slowed down from driving way too fast and I fell in love with a tiny blond headed little girl. Gollllllleeeeee, it makes me tear up thinking about that day.
Even today, almost 33 years later she is still perfect just like her mother! There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that can stop me from loving her.
OK, what was my greatest job of being a father? Raising three perfect kids. What was my greatest fear of being a father? Raising three un-perfect kids. Truthfully, I wanted my kids to love God most of all as I knew their paths would always be corrected by a loving and righteous God. My greatest fear was that they would chose not to love God and Christ and their lives would wonder without a greater purpose. Yes, of course, they all make mistakes but they are always forgiven just like my father in heaven always forgives me.
What do you learn in the Osage?
OK, back on track: Just a little bit of review before that date would be in order. Shouna, my wife, and I are both wound pretty tight. That means we run hard and play hard or in other words we are busy folks. This is kind of like a nut does not fall to far from the tree (look at our parents). We had been married five years and moved from Weatherford, Oklahoma to Dallas to the Chicago area. Shouna was a full time music student at Southwestern State University in Weatherford then North Texas in Denton, Texas then the Chicago Conservatory of Music in Chicago. She also had a job for a short time in Dallas which is actually a great story I will relate some day. I was working for EDS/Ross Perot in Dallas then transferred to Chicago to work downtown Chicago. Actually we had signed up to go work in Iran but as you know that became a mess and actually there was a book and movie made about what we did there (On Wings of Eagles). Anyway in Chicago we settled in pretty quickly and got recruited into Amway which turned out to be a fun deal that Shouna and I could do together and it allowed us to meet a lot of folks from all walks of life and to see all of Chicago and the surrounding area plus travel extensively. We were extremely busy and having kids was not a priority but also we were not avoiding having kids if you know what I mean. In fact after being married five years we became concerned that we could not have kids so we started taking tests to see what was the problem.
I guess just knowing other friends were having kids right and left made us wonder what was the problem. Plus we knew a lot of friends who were not able to have children or lost them during pregnancy so we just wanted to know what was our situation and the possibility. Well the good news and bad news is there was a giant snow storm in Chicago and you might guess what folks do when there is so much snow and ice that you cannot get out. Nine months later on November 26th, 1979 it snowed again but only four inches which is a dusting by Chicago standards. Also that day Wynter (get it? the name?) was born and my life changed forever. That day I buckled my seat belt more often, I slowed down from driving way too fast and I fell in love with a tiny blond headed little girl. Gollllllleeeeee, it makes me tear up thinking about that day.
Even today, almost 33 years later she is still perfect just like her mother! There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that can stop me from loving her.
OK, what was my greatest job of being a father? Raising three perfect kids. What was my greatest fear of being a father? Raising three un-perfect kids. Truthfully, I wanted my kids to love God most of all as I knew their paths would always be corrected by a loving and righteous God. My greatest fear was that they would chose not to love God and Christ and their lives would wonder without a greater purpose. Yes, of course, they all make mistakes but they are always forgiven just like my father in heaven always forgives me.
What do you learn in the Osage?
- Priorities always should be adjusted and evaluated
- Expectations should be great of your kids
- Forgiveness is required
Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.com
1 comment:
Well, Gary...You're a Gardener, so I'm thinking you just planted seeds when you got snowed in! Come to think of it, judging from the harvest, you might even be a Master Gardner!...Ya think? Good story!
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