Paradise By The Dashboard Light (Happy Valentines Day)

You can’t go through a marriage without trials and tribulations. This is something that my wife and I have experienced for some 23 (almost 24 years) now. She is by far, my best friend. I love her more now than ever before. We met in college as freshmen. Our history kind of reminds me of a song by Meatloaf, “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” and my wife is probably going to get mad at me for writing this but I was the one singing, “will you love me forever, will you never leave me.” I don’t know about her, but with me, it was love at first sight. When the semester ended in May, we were united together in marriage. I was 18 and she was 19, and somehow we have survived the odds and percentages of divorce of teenage marriages. I would be lying though if I told you that we have had a perfect marriage. God has blessed us with money problems. I know that sounds crazy, but, at times, if we had had the money to get a divorce, we would not be together today. Instead, we went through separations while living under the same roof. Through the healing of nothing but time on our side, we fell in love all over again. It seems that everywhere you look, neighborhoods, the work place, even churches, there is a higher percent of people divorced than there is not divorced. You can get a group of people together and more than 75 percent of them are on their second marriage. My wife and I were united almost 24 years ago and still standing the test of times. We have been blessed with two children who are pretty much grown now. Our daughter (the result of our "Paradise By the Dashboard Light") is 23 and just recently married, and our son is 17 and is a junior in High School. Both great kids, and we love them dearly.
As a song writer, my wife has had the pleasure of many love songs dedicated to her. Of course, over the many years that we have been married we have also adopted many radio love ballads as “our song”. “Faithfully” by Journey, “You’re The Inspiration” by Chicago are treasured songs that we will always share together. The country group Ricochet has two songs that seems like they pull the words from the depths of my heart to describe my feelings and love for her. “We Are Connected at the Heart” and my personal favorite, “Do I Love You Enough”.
I can’t go through a day without saying the words, “I Love You” to her. If I had the money, everyday would be Valentines Day. I would shower her with flowers, jewelry, chocolates, cards, and whatever else I could buy to show my love and affection for her. With the many years that we have been married, I could probably write a 200 page essay on this and still leave out many events in our journey through life together.
The only thing I ask from God now is, “Lord, we have survived the storms, there is nothing that is going to come between us, and I believe that even death won’t do us part. I believe that we will be married in heaven. We are in this for the long haul. So God, please, would you please now bless us with money in the same way that you have blessed our marriage without money. ”

Tammie I love you till the end of time, and nobody will ever take that away from you and me. Happy Valentines Day honey.


Your Husband,
Kevin Stokes