It started off with a few trips to the same store that ended with our greatest purchase— each other’s hearts! I was divorced and Anthony had never married before. We ran into each other several times at a local store and it was not exactly love at first sight, but it was enough to send a Facebook request. For the record, he messaged me first, but thankfully I responded. Maybe our encounters had not been a coincidence. Maybe it was fate. After a few weeks of messaging, we exchanged numbers, and he finally asked me out.
It was really all by chance that we ended up at the University of Wyoming together. Lucas was originally planning on playing football at Baylor but was injured his senior year. He then received an offer from the University of Wyoming. I had one offer for a golf scholarship, and it was from the University of Wyoming, one of the coldest schools in the country (not exactly ideal golf weather). However, since it was my only offer, I jumped on it as soon as I could!
If anyone told me on a Saturday afternoon in September, I would walk through Central Park wearing a mask, bouquet in hand, while a couple of friends held the train of my wedding gown and my parents made a FaceTime call from Texas to watch my wedding… … (Not to be cliche, but since this year has been anything but cliche, I think it is fitting.) …
In high school, teachers would assign us to write a letter to our future selves. I would daydream about my future husband. Of course we would meet in college. Where else do you meet husbands? As Senior Class Vice President, my primary duty would be to plan our ten-year reunion in 2019. To an 18-year-old, ten years into the future seemed like an eternity, but I couldn’t help but imagine my future life.
February is the month we look forward to each year that smells of roses and chocolates! Did you know Valentine’s Day in 2020 added over $25 billion to the economy, all in the name of celebrating love? … Love evokes so many feelings that can be hard to define or even express in words. When I think of love, I think about actions. I think of how my husband does the dishes and packs our kids’ lunches every day.
Heart-shaped candy boxes, heart-shaped balloons, heart-shaped cookies… February really is all about the heart. Every year, we use the fourteenth to celebrate those we love and express to them how much they mean to us. However, our heart obsession is not limited to the parties and confections of Valentine’s Day. February is also National Heart Month and serves to bring awareness to the importance of heart health and the millions across the nation who suffer with heart conditions.
With most couples, “to have and to hold” does not include a daily serving of queso and chips, delicious green salsa or shrimp rancheros. However, power couple and Amigo Juan owners, Maria and Sergio Rodriguez, have been cooking and serving up these popular menu items for the past 18 years, while also finding a way to keep their love alive. A power couple could be defined as two equal partners who complement each other and whose relationship is based on mutual respect and appreciation—more about collaboration and less about competition. In the words of an unknown source, “Be a boss.
Mark McWilliams lived in Texarkana for 18 years. He is owner of Arista Winery and Vineyards, founded in 2002 in Sonoma County, California. Arista has become one of California’s most sought after producers of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Arista’s wines are produced in small quantities and have deep, rich flavors that reflect the unique sites from which they come. … What is your favorite Texarkana memory? … Growing up in a place, you have tons of memories and it’s difficult to pick one.
Two in the Canoe … I LOVE “love!” To me, it is paramount to all other emotions. No matter what I am feeling, love either makes things better, or takes the sting away, making struggles a little easier to experience. I have been loved, and have loved, in so many ways: as a daughter, as a mother, as a friend, as a teammate, as a sister, as a cousin, as an aunt and as a niece. But the love I love most dearly is that I have experienced as a wife. Words cannot adequately express the joy with which the Lord has blessed me through my marriage.