~ Jessica can’t imagine celebrating her 15th wedding anniversary without her husband.

Will she wallow in self-pity, or find a way to make the day special? ~ 

The day she had been dreading was fast approaching. Fifteen years ago this coming Thursday Jessica and Sam stood before her pastor in a beribboned church and said, “I do.” Every anniversary since then had been special, marked by trips to bed ’n breakfast inns, a week at the beach, or at least with a fancy dinner and a dozen roses. For their 10th anniversary they had gone Hawaii, leaving the children with Sam’s younger brother and his family.

“Your fifteenth wedding anniversary is supposed to be special,” Jessica remarked to her good friend Kate as they cleaned up after the 2nd graders from their Vacation Bible School Class. The little rascals had just been dismissed, leaving behind scraps of construction paper and puddles of glue.

“Let’s see,” Kate mused as she swept confetti off the table and into a trash bag, “Our son was in the hospital with a burst appendix on our fifteenth anniversary. I forgot to even give Paul the card I had picked out for him.” She shot Jessica a steady glance. “Sometimes things are beyond your control.”

Beyond my control, Jessica thought later facing the backyard from the comfort of her air-conditioned sun room. I do NOT like the sound of that.

Well aware that it is God alone who is in control, Jessica wasn’t pretending otherwise. Had she been able to control current events, the Twin Towers never would have been attacked, Sam never would have gone off to fight the War on Terrorism, and her easy days of routine never would have been disrupted. What she wrestled with was the idea that this year’s anniversary would be like any other non-holiday of the year, and that there was nothing she could do about it.

I’m going to do something. Something special. But what?

One of the lessons that Jessica had been learning over the past 9 months while her husband was away was to take everything to the Lord in prayer. Therefore she left the distractions of the sun room overlooking the backyard where the children were currently enjoying some free time. Heading indoors, Jessica shut herself in her bathroom, where the children were unlikely (most of the time) to disturb her. And she prayed.

That evening, over a meal of vegetable soup and rolls, Jessica shared with her three children the idea that had come to her as she stood at the stove stirring the homemade soup.

“Really?” seven year old Brianna squealed. “That sounds like fun! I want to help!”

Her ten year old son took longer to respond. He slurped at his soup, then reached for a roll and said, “I hope it doesn’t take all day.”

Maggie rolled her eyes. “Way to rain on Mom’s anniversary, Caleb.” Soon to be 14 and maturing every day, Maggie Leigh turned to Jessica and asked, “You want me to get a pen and paper so we can make a list?”

All four members of the family contributed their thoughts, some serious and some absurd, and soon Maggie had a page full of ideas. Jessica thanked her for it and took it to the computer to mull it over, whittle it down, and print up a schedule for Thursday.

A gentle tippity-tap on the window pane awoke Jessica and told her that her anniversary would be a wet one. She spent the minutes before the alarm went off asking the Lord God to bless her efforts to make this day special.

Before she could begin thinking about her anniversary plans, Jessica had to get through Vacation Bible School. Brianna and Caleb were in classes, Maggie was a youth helper, and Jessica was assisting Kate with the 2nd grade class. The children were fidgety and unruly, no doubt due to the rain, which finally slowed to a drizzle. By the time the noon dismissal bell sounded, Jessica felt that her hair must be standing on end. However, before she could even daydream about going home for a much-needed nap, Brianna ran up and threw her arms around her mother’s waist.

“What are we gonna do first? Are you ready to go?” the little girl asked with great excitement in her voice.

Jessica smiled down at her enthusiastic daughter. “Let’s find your brother and sister and get going!”

First things first, they rushed home for a quick lunch and to collect the bags they had prepared for the day. Finally, it was time to make the day one they would always remember!

Plugging in a tape of praise music, Jessica made her first stop at the Women’s Shelter, where her donation of books, used clothing, and hand-me-down toys were enthusiastically received by the crisis care volunteers. As she got back into the car, Caleb remarked, “I bet some kid is going to be happy with my old helicopter. You know, the sound effects still work.”

“Yes,” Jessica assured him, “we discovered that when I sat the bag down. The button must have bumped against something! We all jumped!”

Maggie took the next delivery, with Brianna trailing after her. They had a plate of homemade Snickerdoodles for Sharon Deitz, who was at home recuperating from a broken arm. “You should have seen Alyssa and Jeremy attack those cookies, Mom!” Maggie said, referring to Sharon’s two young children. “Mrs. Deitz must have thanked us five times!”

“We made her really happy!” Brianna added, nodding and grinning.

They stopped for floral bouquets - Jessica had brought along a couple of vases to put them in - and took them to the nursing home to brighten up the TV room. They chatted with the residents, who seemed to enjoy the children most of all, grasping at their young hands and patting them, thanking them for coming and telling them to be good and to come back some time.

The sun had broken through the clouds by the time they returned to their car.

“What’s next on the list, Mom?” Caleb asked, leaning over the seat to get a look at the paper in Jessica’s hand.

It was apparent that he was eager to make a delivery on his own, which made Jessica’s heart swell. “How about we visit Matt next?”

Matt’s family attended their church, and Matt was recovering from a bad case of the chicken pox. Caleb had helped fix him a bag of cookies, adding a yo-yo and one of his favorite insect books to share with the sick boy. Caleb stood straight and tall as he rang the doorbell and was invited into the house. Upon Caleb’s return to the car he reported that Matt looked like an out-of-control dot-to-dot game, and that he was so excited about the gift that he nearly fell out of bed. Maggie rolled her eyes, and Brianna just bounced in her seat.

They were down to one last delivery. It was one that Jessica was a little nervous about. One of their church members was going through an unwanted divorce. Jessica felt bad for Alicia, but never knew what to say to her. However, when she had prayed, asking God to bring to mind people to bless on this special day, Alicia’s name had popped into her head and stayed there.

Therefore, Jessica had carefully made up a care package for Alicia. In the basket she included a pretty pink glass mug, a small assortment of tea, coffee, and hot cocoa mixes, a tube of hand lotion, a tube of peach-scented bubble bath, a scented candle in a tin, and a book by a favorite Christian author.

Alicia’s blue eyes welled up with tears when Jessica handed her the basket with the words, “We know you’re going through a hard time, and we wanted to do something to help.”

“I want you to know,” Alicia said, wiping a tear from one eye, “That I just asked God if anybody cared at all, and then you knocked! I can’t believe it. He answered my prayer that fast! Thank you so much.”

Jessica spontaneously gave Alicia a hug, choking back a sob herself.

The Ransfords finished the evening at a pizza buffet, talking happily about the day and how much fun it had been to make it special.

“Just wait till Dad hears what we did!” Brianna said.

“He’ll be sorry he missed it,” Caleb said knowingly.

“We could do it again after Dad comes home, right Mom?” Maggie asked.

“Sure, kids,” Jessica said. “We might just rename this ‘The Anniversary Special,’ and do it every year.”

Once back home, Jessica clipped a rose from her bush and reflected on the day. Kate was wrong, she thought. One thing was not beyond my control. That was my response to the situation. And I think I handled that pretty well for a change! Happy anniversary to me! ... But I do hope Sam comes home soon.

Copyright 2002 by Brenda B. Covert