It is not an ideal situation to say the least. Living two hours apart for five days a week, sometimes more, is – according to the experts – the opposite choice for a healthy marriage. Why would you commit your lives to each other and then live on opposite sides of the state? You wouldn’t.
Unless. Unless you are working together to pursue your gifts, dreams and passions. It turns out that we are trying to become the people that we were created to be and, for this season, that means Giles is in Kalamazoo and I am in Detroit.
We have been married for nearly six years and until August had spent it together. I’ve gotten used to it and yeah, I like it. But rewind ten years ago I told Giles “I don’t care what you do with it, as long as you keep using it. God gave you the gift of song for a reason and you have to honor that in some way.” And ten years later, the letter arrived: “we are pleased to extend an invitation to you to study at our graduate school of music.” A few weeks later, an invitation to sing with Opera Grand Rapids was in our mailbox. Lo and behold, a life apart was on its way.
And yet. And yet. Sitting in the audience at OGR’s production of Sampson and Delilah, seeing my wife performing on stage, seems like a dream achieved. The opportunity to use her gifts and run with it like this inspires me. It is an unbelievable honor to watch her perform.
So living on opposite sides of the state? If it means more of this, lets keep it up for a while. It’s not ideal but man, it has some pretty awesome results.
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