Learning more about my wife of 8 years

The Watsons 4 have covered a lot of ground and seen a lot of places.  A couple of weeks ago though, we loaded up and went to a spot that was new for us as a family.  Although, as I'll soon share, wasn't so new for Lisa.  

 JR & Amy were getting married in Amy's hometown of Davenport, Iowa.  I've never, ever, ever been to Iowa.  I'm not sure that I've been anywhere even close to Iowa.  And certainly not Davenport.  But that's where Amy's from and when good friends invite you to  the event that will forever shape and change their lives, well, you go.  

They'd asked Rev. Lisa to officiate part of their wedding.  And though they had 4 ministers handling different sections of the ceremony, Lisa got the good parts - communion, unity candle, introduction and pronouncement.  

This wasn't Lisa's first wedding to co-officiate, but it was the first time she handled these sections.  Frankly, its just not so common, even in our ministry circles, for a woman minister to officiate weddings.  Sure, I'm biased.  But watching her up there, it's clear to see a naturalness, comfort and sensitivity she possesses as she walked the bride & groom through the wedding ceremony where the two join in matrimony.  She led them, pastored them and ministered to them.  And, at the end of it all, pronounced them husband and wife.  

But back to Davenport.  Apparently Davenport (pop. 100, 827) is one of five cities that make up a larger five-city metropolis known, surprisingly, as the Quad Cities (go figure).  The other four cities are: Bettendorf, IA (pop. 32,445), Rock Island, Ill. (pop. 38,442), Moline, Ill. (pop. 43,016) and East Moline, Ill. (pop. 21,134).  Lisa was actually born in this area (a much smaller town called Silvus (pop. 7, 269)) and lived in East Moline and in Rock Island for a while when she was a girl.

Since we've been married, I've heard a number of great girlhood stories from her time living in this corn-sieged area.  And up until this trip, I was only able to cobble together some imaginative midwest suburb in my unimaginative mind.  Over the weekend we made two trips, one to where her grandparents lived and another to where she lived as a girl.  I heard other stories, new ones.  And was reminded of some old ones.  But this time, I got to see her face, while she looked at places she's not seen in decades.  And the stories were better, funnier, sadder and now these stories have a home in a place richer than even my cooky imagination.  

I'm grateful I don't live in Davenport.  Or any of the 5 Quad Cities for that matter.  But I'm grateful that Lisa did.  Because those places shaped her.  They shaped her into the woman who was to minister to a young couple on their wedding day.  And those places shaped her into the woman who stood with me on mine.