I Dreamed of Her

I dreamed a dream once. I dreamed of a life with a rustic home in the mountains on a spread big enough to raise horses. A place where kids could be kids. Space to learn how to sit ahorse as easily as breathing. A setting to learn to shoot a gun, to skin an elk, to swing an axe. A place to appreciate the beauty of the setting sun resting on a meandering river...a place to grow to be a man.

But I also dreamed another dream. I dreamed of her. I dreamed of that one woman I would share my life with. The one I would laugh with, cry with, fight with, make up with. I dreamed of a best friend who would share a life of wonder and awe. She would stretch me in ways I didn't imagine. She would keep me grounded when I aspired to nonsense yet push me to soar straight on 'til morning. I dreamed of her whom I did not know, yet I knew her a lifetime the day I met her.

Today we celebrate her birthday, and, as I said that day 20 years ago, I thank God for her. I thank God He filled my dreams of her--not of the dream I dreamed, but the dream He dreamed for me...for us. The dream in which we were meant to live together. And should another lifetime come and go, I would still dream that dream of her.

I still dream of you. Happy birthday!