This post was originally posted on my Oyler Creative business website blog on June 8, 2015. I am moving all of those personal blog posts over to this site to keep the Oyler Creative website completely business-related.
Treehouse chapel
(June 8, 2015) Three years ago today I climbed up into a tree-house chapel here on the grounds of the Pittsburgh District Church of the Nazarene Mt Chestnut Retreat Center and began the greatest adventure of my life.
left holding the flowers
Six weeks earlier (yes, six weeks!) I had met Debbie Paynter for the very first time. And now, here we were in a playground treehouse chapel, getting married! Well, we were getting married AFTER we had to interrupt the ceremony so that Debbie could leave to run home and retrieve the vows she had written, leaving me standing there holding her flowers with a love-sick grin on my face.
Rick Gardner tying the knot for us
But she came back! And Rick Gardner was able to finish the ceremony and pronounced us Man and Wife. And that is when the adventure began. An adventure of learning, loving, healing, growing, exploring, journeying. And it is an adventure that we have traveled through together, side by side. There have been tough times, but you know what, that is when the most growth has occurred. And there have been good times. Oh yeah, there have been REAL good times!
I’ve had a lot of adventures in my life, and those who have known me the longest (David Oyler, Lawrence Hancock, Byron Harvey) can confirm just how crazy some of those adventures were. But I can honestly say that all of those adventures pale to absolute nothing compared to this adventure. Because this adventure is with the love of my life, and we are walking this road together.
I love you Debbie Oyler, and I can’t wait to see what new things await us around the next bend of our adventure. Happy Anniversary Baby! I love you!
Paul loves Debbie!