The four days of Thanksgiving weekend included the 4^th time I’ve come to my wedding anniversary without my husband. So on Friday, November 29, my thoughts floated between 1969 and 2013. It would have been 44 years.

As I told my children, though, this year wasn’t as difficult as the year before, which wasn’t as difficult as the year before that. A broken heart does mend, because it’s God who’s working gently within, doing the healing himself. And part of that is his pointing me back to the good times Nate and I had together.

As I looked at wedding pictures this weekend and thought about that day, God reminded me of a funny incident after our reception. Back in the sixties it was common for a bride and groom to be “pranked”, so it was important to have a getaway plan.

Nate’s friend John from law school agreed to be our driver and seemed a safe bet, since none of our friends knew him or his car.

Our honeymoon destination was The Drake Hotel, only 1½ miles from Moody Church, so it was critical no one find out where we were going. If they did, they’d be knocking on our door all night, harassing us with phone calls, dogging our every move.

Nate had stored his car (and our suitcases) near The Drake a week before the wedding, so all we had to do was get ourselves there without being followed. The plan was to first head for O’Hare Airport, making everyone believe we were flying out of town. Then we could double back to The Drake for a peaceful, private honeymoon.

After the rice was thrown and we were safely in John’s back seat, a trail of cars set out following us, as expected. John did his best to lose them, but the chase was on, and even red lights didn’t stop them.

Earlier in the day I’d put my long coat in John’s car and Nate had added his own clothes. He didn’t think it appropriate to change in the back seat, so en route to the airport, John pulled into a filling station. The chasing cars hung back, ostensibly waiting for us to gas up, but Nate grabbed his clothes, crouched down, and raced to the bathroom door. In the back seat, I slipped out of my gown and into my coat.

When Nate returned, he said, “That was the nicest bathroom! It had a full length mirror and everything!”

“That,” we said, “was because it was the women’s bathroom.” (We’d all seen the sign.)

*               *               *               *               *               *

It was just a tiny memory on my anniversary without Nate, but God used it to prompt gratitude. All widows have hundreds of happy recollections like that, and it’s wisdom to summon them up in order to transform a broken heart into a thankful one. And what better weekend to do it than Thanksgiving?

[Chase conclusion tomorrow]

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)