It may sound strange, but almost since the first year of our marriage Tom and I have celebrated the anniversary of our engagement. Twenty six years ago on April 19, 1986 we got engaged. That is a miracle. And the fact that we have been happily married for 25 year is a miracle.Miracles need to be remembered and celebrated.
Interestingly enough, we celebrated another odd anniversary this week. It was 32 years ago this month that Tom and I played King Arthur and Queen Guinevere in the musical Camelot. It was our senior year of high school. (Yes, we graduated from high school a loooong time ago!) This past weekend our high school alma mater did Camelot again for the first time in 32 years and Tom and I went to see it. We had to see it because Camelot is part of our miracle story.
At the time we did the play in high school our relationship was strained. Tom and I had known each other since elementary school, had been friends and had the potential for a deeper relationship even then. Thankfully, that didn't materialize at the time. We would have been stupid, to put it bluntly, and caused each other a great deal of pain. We were different people then and would have made very different choices. At the time of Camelot, we barely spoke to each other off stage while we portrayed a married couple on stage. That is what makes Camelot a part of our miracle story.
Even without speaking to each other offstage we were able to connect with the characters and their relationship as portrayed in the musical. Arthur and Guinevere came together through an arranged marriage but grew in affection and respect for each other. He dreamed of leading his kingdom well and changing things for the better while she encouraged him, helped him think things through and supported his efforts. If you know the story, then you know everything fell apart when Lancelot came on the scene, but even when Guinevere's passion turned to Lancelot, she never stopped caring for Arthur or believing in his dream. We connected so deeply with the characters that the end of the production was difficult. Tom pulled me aside to "say good-bye" at a cast party and in response, I wrote a letter from "Guinevere" to "Arthur" encouraging him to hold on to his dreams. He still has the letter.
I like to say that years later Tom and I "met again in church". Both our lives had changed dramatically as a result of our individual commitments to Christ. If we had come together before that time our story would have probably been similar to Arthur and Guinevere in that it would have ended in pain to us both. The miracle is that we came together at all and that because of our changed lives we have been able to succeed where Guinevere and Arthur failed.
So, we celebrate the milestones of our miracle, like our engagement anniversary or 25 years of marriage. We know who we were. Guinevere and Arthur remind us who we were and make us very grateful for who we have become.
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