It’s wot bwings us togeder today.
It’s that bwessed awangement.
It’s that dweam wifin a dweam.
Mawage.
And for me it all started 28 years ago today.
I’m still surprised by her beauty, still amazed by her faith. The journey has been full of joy, pain, ecstasy, grief, hurt, and forgiveness. We’ve welcomed three children into this world, buried one, and come frighteningly close to losing another.
I can’t imagine my life without her. I can’t wait to see what lies ahead in the next 28.
So here’s my wise advice for today: tweasure your wuv.
Congratulations!!!
I get the reference to Princess Bride now! I finally watched the movie!!!
I LOVE the movie Princess Bride! I can still remember watching it with my honey many years ago and laughing until we cried. That scene along with the “winning a land war in Asia” are our two favorite scenes. Wishing you a day filled with great memories of your life together and excited planning for the future. Happy Anniversary!
Most of life can be explained by “The Princess Bride,” “The Godfather,” and the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
One of Chris’s buddies that plays on another little league team and I have an ongoing joke about “the battle of the wits” (from PB). I’ve told him to figure it out. He thinks I’ll call a curve. But because he knows I know he thinks I’ll call a curve, I’ll call a fastball. But because I know he knows . . . . Well, enough.
This is actually the anniversary date for four of the five people currently living in our house. So, happy anniversary, Josh and Kayci. We’re glad you’re here for a while, but I know a wonderful church in Houston that’s anxious for June to come!
“Then wuv, Twuh wuv…” Mike, what you and Diane have is Twuh wuv.
Happy Anniversary! Have a wonderful day today and may God bless you with many, many more years together.
Congrats from the Elliotts!
“Anybody want a peanut?”
Blessings to you both. I have your website subscribed on my bloglines, and when I clicked preachermike, the picture came up almost the full size of my computer screen, I am so glad it did, because when I switched over to your actual webpage the picture was too small to see the twinkles in your and Diane’s eyes and the emotions that just jumped from the picture. Young love. You both look very hip and happenin’.
Blessings to you both! God is glorified when His people stay united in Him and share the hopes and realities of life together. Congratulations!
We want to join in on the well wishing! Love you guys. I smiled when I saw your pictures. Our age group understands how “in” you were in the first picture yet how much better it can get. And how vastly different the depth of love is in each picture. We still keep our engagement picture up to remind us . . . and every so often we look at it and say, “We had no idea. . .”
Isn’t that the truth? If we really could see the future — everything that would be coming — we might have far fewer marriages. Taking challenges a day at a time is a blessing!
Congratulations! You’ve probably also learned to say “as you wish” since you seem to have a great marriage. We girls like that line.
The Godfather? Don’t they use foul language in The Godfather? And you call yourself a preacher!
Happy Anniversary!! That which is “noble” has sustained your lives together. And your “to blave” comes from God! You are an inspiration to us!
You should hear Liz “do” that scene (and several others) — James actually started his niece’s wedding off with the word . . . “Marriage . . .” after he had teased them beforehand. It broke the ice and everyone relaxed.
I personally love the “head flop” scene and “. . . no, let me sum up!” So fun!
BTW — You left a certain series of movies out of that list of 3 in which “most of life can be explained!” Give me a break!
Happy Anniversary Mike and Diane! Congrats on an amazing 28 years. As a young married man (it’s been a year and a half), it is both exciting and scary to think of all that will transpire over the next 26.5 years. But the one thing I know is that I will have my precious wife by my side no matter what. Thanks for the reminder.
Anyone want to guess what movie series vtc3po was referring to? Look carefully at vtc3po again (maybe ignoring the “vt” part). She’s obsessed. I think she can quote the whole series. And my middle schooler holds her in reverence for it!
Just the fact that Diane committed to you for life when you had sideburns like that is a testament to her faithfulness, perseverance and will. Happy anniversary, and I’m glad you left those things in the ’70s.
You preach better than me.
You workout more than me.
You blog more than me.
You speak Spanish and I don’t.
But one thing we share in common…
We both married way out of our league!
Congratulations on 28 years intimately journeying together!
Only the coolest moms LOVE Star Wars and can recite several scenes by heart!!!
Blessings on both of you. I believe God smiles when we celebrate the things he holds as important; 2 lives becoming one to serve him more faithfully, love more completely, model the strange mixture of love, patience, endurance, commitment and growth. May God make you one-er and one-er and happier and happier.
Congrats to you both!
I’m with Deana… glad Diane didn’t let those groovy side burns stand in the way of twu wuv! Congratulations!
Mike and Diane,
1978 St. Louis Cardinals
Opening Day Starters
Lou Brock
John Denny
Keith Hernandez
Jerry Morales
Ken Reitz
Tony Scott
Ted Simmons
Garry Templeton
Mike Tyson
Pop Songs which hit # 1 in 1978
Mike to Diane: Boogie Oogie Oogie - A Taste of Honey (#1)
Mike: Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? - Rod Stewart (#1)
Mike: Baby Come Back - Player (#1)
Diane to Mike: Le Freak - Chic (#1)
Diane: Grease - Frankie Valli (#1)
Mike: Hot Child in the City - Nick Gilder (#1)
Mike: If I Can’t Have You - Yvonne Elliman (#1)
Mike: You’re the One That I Want - Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta (#1)
Diane: With A Little Luck - Paul McCartney & Wings (#1)
Mike: Three Times a Lady - Commodores (#1)
Diane: You Needed Me - Anne Murray (#1)
Mike: Stayin’ Alive - Bee Gees (#1)
Diane: Shadow Dancing - Andy Gibb (#1)
Mike: Kiss You All Over - Exile (#1)
Diane: Night Fever - Bee Gees (#1) on May 11
Diane: MacArthur Park - Donna Summer (#1)
Mike: Miss You - The Rolling Stones (#1)
Diane: (Love Is) Thicker Than Water - Andy Gibb (#1)
1978 Prices
Cost of a new home: $62,500.00
Cost of a new car: $6,478.00
Median Household Income: $15,064.00
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.13 ($0.15 as of 5/29/78)
Cost of a gallon of regular gas: $0.63
Cost of a dozen eggs: $0.82
Cost of a gallon of Milk: $1.71
1978 Château Lafleur Pomerol (Bordeaux Blend)
Price: $1,093.50
Mike and Diane: Priceless
Mike,
You look like Greg Brady.
As both a marriage and family therapist and a MOTC (member of THE church
it’s good to see folks still really enjoy each other through the tough times and after them as well. You model healthiness in so many ways. Congratulations and many more. Godspeed.
From another scene in PB–but the words are right on:
This is true love - you think this happens every day?
Love and congratulations to you both.
…yeah, and congrats, Copes!
I think you survived this long because of your constant use of another PB line - As You Wish! I concur with Deana about the ‘Burns - WOW!
To love deeply in one direction makes us more loving in all others. –Anne-Sophie Swetchine
God bless you both as you continue to love deeply toward one another. We all reap the benefits!
I guess all us “old-timers” got married about the same time. We had 28 this year and to quote one of our favorites: Truly, Madly, Deeply by Savage Garden
I’ll be your wish
I’ll be your fantasy.
I’ll be your hope
I’ll be your love
Be everything that you need.
I love you more with every breath
Truly madly deeply do..
I will be strong I will be faithful
‘Cos I’m counting on a new beginning.
A reason for living.
A deeper meaning.
Chorus
I want to stand with you on a mountain.
I want to bathe with you in the sea.
I want to lay like this forever.
Until the sky falls down on me…
Verse 2
And when the stars are shining brightly
In the velvet sky,
I’ll make a wish
Send it to heaven
Then make you want to cry..
The tears of joy
For all the pleasure and the certainty.
That we’re surrounded
By the comfort and protection of..
The highest power.
In lonely hours.
The tears devour you..
I want to stand with you on a mountain,
I want to bathe with you in the sea.
I want to lay like this forever,
Until the sky falls down on me…
Bridge
Oh can’t you see it baby?
You don’t have to close your eyes
‘Cos it’s standing right before you.
All that you need will surely come…
I’ll be your dream
I’ll be your wish
I’ll be your fantasy.
I’ll be your hope
I’ll be your love
Be everything that you need.
I’ll love you more with every breath
Truly madly deeply do…
Chorus
Peace.
Nice sideburns.
Happy anniversary Mike and Diane.
Keith
Sounds as if you’ve had many happy returns! Y’know, I just wrote a blog post on singleness (to celebrate my 36th birthday!)… but I have to admit, reading your post is one of those times I’d like to git me one of them there husbands. Thanks for showing what marriage is and isn’t… and covering everything in love!
Blessings to you both!
I’m jealous of the person who got to see the pictures full-screen; I’d like to get a better look at Mike in the 70s (maybe my friend Jim has some pictures he can share??).
Congratulations on your anniversary, and may there be many, many more.
(Am I the only person whose began singing new lyrics to “Pink Houses” in her head? “A little ditty, ’bout Mike and Diane… 2 American kids growin’ up, in the heartland…” It’s a strange affliction I have!
Did anyone circa 1976 ever see Bob Dylan and Mike in the same room? Of course, they didn’t.
Mike/Bob released this record shortly before his nuptials. (Can I say “nuptials” on this blog?)
http://www.google.com/musica?aid=O0K6_PNgfSP&sa=X&oi=music&ct=image
And, yes, Mike/Bob, we all saw through vtc3po’s thinly-veiled reference to the “Friday the 13th” decalogy.
Diggin those side burns!
Congrads on the years.
When the two really do become one, not just physically, but spiritually and emotionally too, it is a work of art. Also a gift from God and to God.
Congratulations!
Lee
Friday the 13th?!? NOT!
Where did that come from?
Our song (after almost 33 years) is Shania Twain’s “Still the One” . . . I run to– the only one . . .” We danced (gasp) to that at our daughter’s wedding last summer.
Mike & Diane — May the Force Be With You!!
Congrats! We celebrated 24 years in April. Inconceivable! And I’d like to get a closer look at that photo on the left too. btw, did Geoff ever tell you about the time he played basketball with Bob Dylan?
Thanks, vt. May the Fourth be with you, too. But wasn’t that last week?
OK, Candy. I’ll bite. Tell us about Geoff playing hoops with Dylan.
CONGWATS! Jan and I will do 29 this year in Sept. How come Diane looks so much younger than you do now? Too bad you can’t take those side burns and transplant them into your crown, huh?
I love you both, very much!
DU
What would we do without our mates by our side? Blessings to you both for many more years of living this life together. Happy 28th!
may the LORD bless you and your family in the name of Jesus.
Congratulations, and I was relieved I was not the only one who noticed the lamb chop sideburns. Did you have a Harley back then?
Here’s to you both!
Please pray for a friend at my church who is an elder. He is undergoing heart by-pass at the moment. God knows who he is. Thanks!
Perhaps we could re-publish that old poster “All I Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten” as “All I Need To Know I Learned from ‘The Princess Bride’”.
“Do we have to have the kissing part?”
“Captured by pirates is good!”
“Get used to disappointment.”
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means…”
“Boooooooo. Booooooooo…… The Queen of putrescence!!!”
“What was that for? I won’t be seeing you again since I’m killing myself in the morning. Won’t that be nice. - She KISSED me!”
“I don’t mind so much.”
Based on yesterday’s “crisis” perhaps I should not say this, but TPB has one of the two best uses of a cuss word I ever heard. (Bill Cosby in “Himself” is the other.)
Congratulations!
I’ll have to second whoever said something about your marriage being a blessing to more than just the two of you. You and Diane have been a HUGE blessing in my life as mentors and “spiritual parents”. I pray that my marriage someday can be as authentic and genuine as yours. I know it hasn’t always been easy…I’ve watched some of the times it wasn’t. But I’m so thankful that you both have stuck together through everything you’ve been through. Congratulations and may God bless you with many more happy years! I love you both SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!
All these quote are making me need to watch The Princess Bride again.
I would put in a plug for Pride and Prejudice as a good source of wisdom (how very girly of me, I know):
A single man of good fortune must be in want of a wife
and
What do we live for but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?
CONGRATULATIONS DIANE AND MIKE!
May today be filled with sweet remembering and joyful forward look to many more blessed years to come!
btw- Mike, this anniversary is celebrated with orchids, or so my florist friend says. Hint, hint.
Congratulations, Guys!
Thanks for a great week at Pepperdine, Mike!
AW
Congratulations Mike & Diane! I remember the Harding days before all the 28 years started. You have grown together and done it in a marvelous fashion. You have done it God’s way. Thank you for your wonderful example to the rest of us! God’s richest blessings on you and your family!
Oh … The Princess Bride! I thought you were saying that wuv makes you tawk wike Elmer Fudd.
Doing impressions online is really tough.
Happy anniversawee.
(Still waiting to receive the Classics.)
I guess the censor detector took my other comment away.
Happy Anniversary Jack (Mike) and Diane
When Geoff was in 9th grade (in Phoenix) he was over at his freshman football coach, Bob Finkbein’s house shooting hoops with some other guys. One of Coach Finkbein’s friends was there visiting and they came out and played a pickup game - the young guys against the older guys. All Geoff remembers is that the guy was little and shaggy and he kept wondering who he was - oh, and he wasn’t any good at basketball. Later on somebody told him that was Bob Dylan and that he played guitar. The coolest part is that after the game they all went inside and Bob Dylan played and sang for them. Geoff didn’t think he was very good! ha!! He also remembers the setting as the quintessential 60’s “pad”, i.e. beanbag chairs and shag carpet and that he was very uncomfortable and wierd. That was 1969. Oh, one more tidbit - Coach Finkbein’s wife was the Romper Room lady in Phoenix who gained notoriety for going to Sweden and getting an abortion. Geoff’s life is an untold story.
I spelled it wrong - it’s Finkbine. Interesting if you google him.
*grin* Happy (belated) anniversary. The Princess Bride was the first movie I ever saw with the youth group. I was confused at first, because we sent two boys to the video store and they came back with a movie called “the princess bride”… but I stopped being confused when they turned it on. It’s been my favourite ever since. The funniest story I have about that - went to a stanley cup playoffs party once - ended up being the ONLY girl in a room full of boys (awkward!) but the game was a blowout - Leafs were killing the Sharks if I remember right… so they turned on the princess bride. An entire room full of tenth grade boys… *grin* Really great movie. Have you read the book? It’s about twice as funny than the movie. –Allie
It’s incontheivable that you guys are old enough to have been married 28 years. Blessings on your next 28!
Congratulations! 28 years is no easy battle. You have bested the giant!
I just posted my “10 Life Lessons from The Princess Bride” a few weeks back.
It is incontheivable how quickly time flies when you’re in love and having fun.