Prince Charming is real, I know because I live with him. I know, it sounds cheesy, but for me, it’s true. We married young, not because we had to, we wanted to, and we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into!! Twenty-eight years later, we have managed to work out most of the bugs. That’s not to say there aren’t days/moments that I’d like to punch him in the mouth, but usually it’s because he’s right about something I don’t want to hear.
Married life hasn’t always been easy. We hit a very nasty patch about fifteen years in. I stayed for our kids. His reason for staying was much more admirable; he stayed because he decided I was worth fighting for. Trust me when I say that I did not make it easy for him. I can be extremely stubborn when I have made up my mind and don’t want to change. He persisted though, and with super human patience and perseverance, our marriage evolved into a true partnership, one we are both fully committed to.
About the same time I went back to school two years ago, he left his secular job to pastor a church full time (follow James at jamesmillerjr.net). Despite travelling three or four days a week, he took over all of the household responsibilities: laundry, meal planning, grocery shopping, cooking, ironing, and housecleaning. I never asked him to, he just saw how hard I was working to juggle both full time employment and a full time course load so he did what he could to make life easier for me. I was able to devote my spare time to studying, and graduate summa cum laude in just less than two years. I could not have accomplished that without his assistance. Not only did he help with domestic chores, he tutored me in math and assisted on several school projects, not because he had to, but because he wanted to help me succeed.
Currently I am training for my first (and probably last) full marathon, Virgin Money London Marathon 2015. Training for 26.2 miles takes an incredible amount of dedication and guess who is right there along side of me? Yep, he is. Even on the days I have to get up at 3 a.m. to run, he gets up too, accompanies me to the track and literally runs beside me. Then, while I’m in the shower, he is downstairs fixing my breakfast so that I don’t leave for work without eating like I should. I can honestly say if the tables were turned and I didn’t have to get up at 3 a.m., I don’t think I would, nor would I be too keen on fixing his breakfast every morning. Yesterday I finished my first ever 20 mile training run, but I wasn’t alone. He isn’t running the marathon, I am, but he trains with me because he doesn’t want me out there alone. I don’t know very many people who would sacrifice themselves like that for someone else’s dream.
From the time I was a little girl my Mama prayed for God to bring me the right husband and He was faithful to answer her prayers in the truly amazing man that I like to call my “Honey Bear.”
Becky J Miller
“Warrior Princess”