Happy Anniversary, with Love

Today is my anniversary. For those of you who know me well you know it is not one of the traditional anniversaries that I celebrate today. It is the four-week anniversary from full time work at my place of employment. Four weeks….. It feels as if four life times have gone by and I am at least four worlds away. I find myself reflecting on how much four weeks has changed my life. And, it really isn’t the end of something I celebrate but the beginning of something new. Time. I realize as the days pass by I have the luxury of time. Time to sit, time to think, and time to thank God for you and for my very existence.

I am very blessed and I know it. I think about my beloved family today. Eight children and their spouses, eleven grandchildren with the hope and promise of more to come. I still rejoice each and every time I see them and get to spend time with them. Sunday lunches after church have become the anchor of my life, the place that holds me steady and firm. For the last 37 years they have been my focus of life and I cannot think of a better way to have spent my life.


My wonderful husband, who at this stage of our lives, has become my soul mate. In all of our years together, this is our first moment to be as one. Having married into a ready-made family it feels as if this is our honeymoon! We have become very comfortable in just being together. Whether we are chatting or just quietly sitting next to each other reading during a thunderstorm, we have become very content just being together. I find that after this time I still love this man and I am enjoying this time immensely.

I have been blessed with a wonderful career in which I have had the opportunity to grow and I hope become what God has wanted me to become. I can never thank my colleagues and the people I have met along the way while at Peachwood Medical Group enough for the wonderful decade I have spent with them. What I have learned from them is immeasurable and I look forward to returning next year on a limited basis. My beginnings and end are so very far from each other and I marvel at the paths my life has taken. I have enjoyed each and every road along the way.
 I think about the friends and family who have enriched my life more than words can ever say. Those of you who are near and dear to my heart, who have loved me through out the ages, come to my mind and I celebrate you. I think of you with a love that is immeasurable and I thank my God for you and how you have given sustenance to my life. Let me never be amiss to tell you how much you mean to me.
And so, I sit here on this “anniversary” at a place called the Blue Beach in Crete, Greece.

Having the time to reflect on the beauty of this moment. The quiet and stillness of it all. I look out and the water is actually three different shades; sapphire, turquoise, and jade. Beautiful beyond what you can imagine. We sit in the sun basking in the warmth and quiet of the day. In the distance we hear the children laughing and playing in the warm ocean. We doze on and off during the afternoon and I take these moments to thank God. It has been a beautiful life. I thank Him mostly for the time I have to reflect upon that and to know that each curve in the road has brought its own blessing and joy. That each season is beautiful in its own time and way. That each and every one of you who is reading this is valuable to me and you have enriched my life beyond what words can say. 

I look forward to what’s ahead!

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Tom and Nancy Stoeckel

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