{I found these in my notes (8/12/1998), but I don’t recall the context … it was just obvious they were my answers.}
How did meeting her change your life?
She’s was the ideal mate since we met, though I didn’t realize it right away. I had a lot of emotional baggage at that time, and she proved to me I deserved to be treated well and that I was a good person, something I had long forgotten. I needed healing and she gave me an environment that wasn’t filled with fear of unpredictable emotional incidents or constant misunderstanding. I really feel like she saved me.
Any advice on finding a wife?
The most important thing to me is having a woman that builds you up, and after that you can never go back to one that tears you down. It is obvious to me now that even if the woman doesn’t make the man a failure or success, she can encourage his dreams and help fulfill them, or she can destroy his will and confidence. Merry is truly the helpmate, and because of that it is easy to respect her feelings and opinions with regards to my own projects and decisions, financial or otherwise.
Could you see yourself as marrying anyone else?
Sure, there are other women I could have happily married, but it wasn’t the right time in my life. In the end, I firmly believe it was God’s plan for me to meet her at that time in my life. But I am dead serious when I say I praise God each day for having her — some of the alternatives are frightening!
So how is she different or special?
She’s an old-fashioned girl, and they just don’t make’m that her anymore. She’s everything the ideal wife in Proverbs is about, which is why I chose that as a reading at the wedding. She’s industrious, compassionate, and I look forward to her being a wonderful mother, as she is already a wonderful step-mother for my daughter Christina, who Loves her dearly.
It also means a lot to me that she appreciates that I am a gentleman. She still forgets sometimes, and I have to race around the car to get her door before she does. There are a lot of other things too, such as not acting embarrassed about what I wear or what my personal interests and hobbies are. But after all, I don’t need a reason to Love her — I just do.