Summary: This summer my wife and I enjoyed time away celebrating our twenty fifth wedding anniversary in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. <br> One afternoon we drove to Emerald Bay, a cove nestled a mile below the mountain highway there. We hiked down the trail and rented a kayak. When we pushed away from shore, I was immediately struck by the clarity of the water. Gray mountains covered in tall pines and shrubs formed a semi-circle around the cove. As you look across the water, the blue skies shine across the clear, spring-fed surface with a silvery-blue hue. <br> My wife, Missy, was sitting up front, her bare legs and feet extended straight out on the front of the boat as she soaked in the sunlight. We rowed ahead until we approached the round boulders of a small island where we stopped for photos and selfies. This was a happy moment, and we were doing what we loved most – being outdoors together…<br> When I was a junior in college, I had a Christmas party to attend at the end of my fall semester, and bringing a date was a requirement for attending the party. At the time, I wasn’t dating anyone. But I asked myself what I realize now was one the most important questions in my life:<br> “Who would be ‘the perfect girl’ to ask on this date?” <br> I started making a mental list: It should be girl who was pretty and smart. I wanted her to care about her spiritual life and be dedicated to a strong personal vision. It was a tall order. On top of it all, I could only offer a fun, non-romantic evening with no expectations of a second date.<br> My first memory of Missy had been after my freshman year in college. We had attended some summer trainings together, but I didn’t really know her. Over the next couple of years, I would see her at various gathers. She was fun-loving and other girls looked at her as a leader.<br> During my junior year, Missy’s younger brother came to live in on my floor. I remember a photo he kept of her on his desk. One day I stopped to look at it. Wow, I thought. She’s pretty. I started paying more attention.<br> Six weeks before the Christmas party, Missy and I were working together at a campus event. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to be the first to ask her. So, after working up my courage, I decided to go for it. What could I lose? <br> “Hey,” I said as I walked up to the table where she sat. She looked up and smiled.<br><br> “I have a question I want to ask about your…calendar,” I started.<br><br> “Okay?” she glanced at me curiously, and pulled out a planner from her bag.<br><br> I thought hard of what say next.<br><br> “I was wondering what you might be doing on December 6? I mean, I know that’s a long time from now, but I wanted to see if you had anything scheduled then?”<br><br> “Well,” she paused then thumbed through the pages and stopped.<br><br> “Actually…I don’t have anything planned on that day.”<br><br> “Cool,” I said, “Could I…pencil something in for you?”<br><br> She smiled and handed it to me. I took a pencil from the table and wrote:<br><br> –Men’s RA Christmas Party, 6PM – Will Parker<br><br> And then I handed it back.<br><br> She looked at the page for a moment and then back at me.<br><br> “Could you go?” I asked.<br><br> It was the longest moment of my life, and suddenly, I realized how much I wanted her to say yes.<br><br> “OK,” she said. “I don’t have anything else going on then. So, I’d be glad to go.”<br> It wasn’t the smoothest approach for asking out the perfect girl. But as I walked away, I reminded myself that this was just going to be one date…<br> One year ago, Missy and I stood on the banks of the Illinois River in Eastern Oklahoma. Our four kids were skipping rocks on the water, and we were watching as the sun set orange above towering trees on the opposite bank. I sat down on a nearby picnic table, and everyone gathered around.<br> “I have an announcement to make,” I said.
