I met Janet in the summer of 1984. She had just joined the Christian music and drama group that I’d been traveling with for the past three years. Agape Players had three road teams, and one international team. We were slated for separate tours, so I didn’t have the opportunity to get to know her through summer training. After touring through the fall, the buses made their way back to Lake Wales Florida for Thanksgiving and the Christmas holiday. During December, we performed many different holiday shows in the hotel we’d renovated in the center of town. After Christmas, the tours reassembled and prepared to go back out on the road. In my four years, I’d never been switched to another tour mid-way, but there’s always a first time for everything, and this was it. I was switched to Janet’s tour which would be performing from January through May in churches along the eastern seaboard. I’d done this tour my first year and was pretty excited for the opportunity to go back to New York, New England, and all other points along the Atlantic.

To say I was a self-assured young man would be an understatement. I’ve always possessed a good memory, which made learning new things pretty easy. I’m also somewhat fearless about trying new things. I’m also a tenor. Many people often used the words conceited, arrogant, or full of himself in the same sentence as my name. Janet, on the other hand, was quiet, gentle, and wise. She was, and still is, two years older than me. She had completed college with an elementary education degree, and already taught for a year before joining the Agape Players. She was smart, and she caught my attention at once. There was really only one issue, she couldn’t stand me. To her, I had a newsreel running across my forehead with all those same words; conceited, arrogant, and full of himself.

In fact, I was all these things. One day I had the hubris to announce to her “I know that you hate me now, but before the end of the tour we’ll be a couple.” I’m not sure that hate was too strong a word for the feelings she had for me at that moment. I don’t recall that she even looked at me for the next two or three days.

Our tour made its way through Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, and into New Jersey by the third week of January.  I don’t quite know how it happened, but we were all staying at the home of our members in Ellicott City, MD, and I was reading poetry to her. And to top it off, we had just spent the whole day together in Washington DC. We ended up getting married in June of 1986, and now we’re celebrating 32 pretty wonderful years together.

We may not do Valentines, but we always seem to do something special for our anniversary.  This year we went back down to New York to see a couple of plays. We laughed at The Play That Goes Wrong, and followed the stories of nine friends in The Boys in the Band. We had a wonderful Italian dinner at Ninos 46, and enjoyed a nice summer walk through the streets of Manhattan.

Thirty-two years seems like a long time, but the time has really flown by. We’ve had some rough times here and there, but we’ve been able to work through those times through trust, honesty, and long hard talks. Most of our time together has been one fantastic experience after another including raising two wonderful children, welcoming two terrific children-in-laws, and adding two beautiful granddaughters.  We’ve lived in five states together from the Pacific to the Atlantic, traveled to fifteen countries, and forty-seven states.  All that to say, our life is good.

This post is a little different because I want her to know that she has always been my favorite traveling companion, not only on weekend adventures, cruises, and international trips, but also in raising children, talking shop, and being my best friend. I love you Janet Ellen Sheppard Dancy! Happy 32nd anniversary!

P.S. I’ve still got a lot of hubris. This page is filled with selfies of us because I know we’re a very cute couple!

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller