Daily Java:

Drink water from your own well— share your love only with your wife. (Proverbs 5:15)

1969. Ella and I were talking about it tonight. We went on a date on Tuesday night, astonishing all of her friends. After all, it was a school night and she was in 12th grade.

We went to Piccadilly Cafeteria in Houston at the Almeda Mall. I had a variation of the same thing I have everywhere, a veal cutlet or chicken fried steak. I am so predictable.

I have no idea what she had. But she did have my heart.

That night, we kissed for the first time. And I loved her. More than I should, probably. But I did.

She had my heart. It took a while before she had mine. But I waited.

And here we are almost 2 years later, still in love. I love her even now.

Our life has not always been an easy one. but she has stuck with me through all the problems. We had, after all, an understanding. We loved each other and would stick with each other through all the problems and difficulties no matter what.

And we did. So here we are, almost 42 years later, still loving each other. It amazed the guys in the jail that we could be together so long. They came from broken homes and damaged situations and couldn’t imagine loving someone for so long.

Someone at church the other day mentioned that they had not had someone with such a story of loving someone for so long before. And we had. And we do. And we will until we die.

I like having someone that I have loved for so long in my life. It gives continuity and purpose to my life. How, after so long, could I turn from her.

Yes, there are temptations. Yes, there are opportunities. Of course, they grow less and less the older I get. But no, I will not give in to them. because, after all, I love her.

The number of times we have made love is legion. And I cannot imagine being with anyone else. Yes, on the one hand, I can. But, on the other hand, I cannot. Because it would ruin something so good, so positive, so powerful.

I share my love with her. no one else. Just her.

And I love her. what else is there to say?

daily java

Daily Java:

She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns.
Her husband is well known at the city gates,
    where he sits with the other civic leaders. (Proverbs 31:22-23)

Long ago I promised sister Ella I would tell her if something didn’t look good on her.

There is nothing worse than a woman going to the store, picking out some article of clothing that she just knows will look good, putting it on, wearing it out for her husband to admire and she doesn’t know she looks like a truck with a badly fitting tarp.

So I promised her I would not say it looked good unless it did. And Ella likes that.

Now to some people this is being mean. I have had people really gripe at me for my insensitivity in telling her that something looked bad when I knew full well she wanted it. Even if she looked bad, she wanted it. And that matters to some people.

But really, what is worse? Telling her it looked good when it made her look terrible? Or telling her it made her look bad because you want her to look good and you love her? It is a lot meaner to tell her she looks good when she doesn’t. You have lied.

After all, I want my wife to look good. I look bad enough for the both of us. And just about everything she has looks good on her. I picked it out. She tried it on and I told her it looked good so she bought it. Otherwise, it would be a waste of money.

If she bought something that looked bad, sooner or later, she would figure it out and then not wear it and it would be a waste of money. And she would feel guilty. We do not spend much on clothing, but what we spend I want to make count.

She knows that she has one objective view in the world that is concerned with her looking good. I love her too much to let her look silly in bad fitting clothing.

I want her to look good. And she does. To help her do this I edit her clothing. And I have to. She hates change. If I didn’t help her change her style, she would dress like she did in 1973. I have forced her into every new change of fashion that she looked good in. I never bought her spandex or tight things or disco clothes or stuff like that. But most women really don’t have any business wearing that sort of thing anyway.

She sees something she likes. She asks me what I think. I give her a preliminary opinion. And I am brutally honest. Some things I know automatically will not look good. When I am, she knows that when she goes to church or wherever, she will have clothes that look good on her, the style of which fit her.

Then she goes into the dressing room and comes out. I tell her exactly what is right and wrong with it. After all, salespeople will lie because they want the sale.

I was with a guy the other day outside a dressing room and his wife came out and looked like a giant badly dressed sausage. Her clothes were terrible. She loved them and told him he did too. So he agreed and asked me. I said fine, sure. They didn’t ask what I thought, just if I agreed. So I did. And she was going to look horrible.

Not Ella. Everything she has fits her to a T, whatever that means. And I like it, because I like to be with a well-dressed woman. And I like being with her.

If you love someone, you will be honest. It means you care for them.

ella's talk sunday morning

Here is Ella's talk at Sunday morning assembly yesterday. She did a good job.

You have to turn the volume up, though, since we are inexperienced at recording.

when i get to heaven

I found this old poem my wife wrote.

When I get to heaven
Will my true love dance with me?
Will we sing along with saints of old
Beneath the everlasting tree?
Where all the shadows will be gone
We’ll live forever in the light of the Son.

Ella Cliver, August 28, 2003

some pictures of my wife

 
I was just thinking about my wife, Ella Leigh. Here is a picture of her that I particularly like. In fact, two pictures.

I have always liked the way she spells her middle name, too.