Anniversary

I write this against the roar of planes as they soar  into the skies, and the soft cooing of a dove. If I listen, I hear the 7 train rumbling on the overhead tracks some distance away, and then the nearby noise of  a roller bag being pulled up the metal ramp at the building’s entrance.Who knew when I said, “I do,” that 44 years later, my husband would set the coffee mug beside me in an apartment bedroom in Queens, a place where we never see a sunrise, but where the sky turns glorious at sunset.

It’s a good life. (Or did you want to hear about the hard things?) We’ve gone from the open spaces of the desert to an ordinary life in the city. We work and worship here. Laurence and I have become one while walking miles and miles on city sidewalks, park paths, and beside the sea.

We’ve experienced sickness and health, laughter and tears during the 44 years we’ve been married. A mile from here is the apartment that we moved into in 1988 when we first came to this city. Back then, Laurence and I sowed the seed and spread the gospel from the Bronx ghetto to the “Brooklyn Bourgh of Churches”. Together, we left behind (reluctantly on my part) the roast beef of childhood Sundays to dine on goat curry and oxtail stew.

In 1995, young men came into our lives; we shared the mission apartment and life’s learning experiences with them. Because we were young and because God opened the door, we decided to make Queens our home. We moved into this apartment on October 17, 1997. Thanks to the support of the brethren, we were able to buy it in 1999.

Nowadays, we two often think as one. I’m glad for this melding. God dwells here in our little apartment. The city noise stills, and we hear His voice. He who has led us this far will journey with us all the way home.

Berniece