Forty-seven years ago today, we said “I do,” and I still do  
by Bill Jones

(Scroll to the end for links to my previous 20 blog tributes to Joanna since her passing.)

This marks my 21st blog post paying tribute to Joanna since her passing in February 2021. They’ve slowed down since the feverish pace I kept for that first year – 13 in the first 12 months (and that doesn’t count additional Facebook posts I wrote in her memory) – but they haven’t stopped and probably won’t until arthritis or some other affliction of old age hampers my writing, my thinking, my memory (God forbid), etc.

Every day without her is rough, especially the anniversary of her passing, her birthday, my birthday, family birthdays & holidays, and so forth. But I’ve found the most painful one every year is our wedding anniversary – I miss celebrating it with her so much.

On that first anniversary without Joanna – two years ago – I wrote a few words expressing some of the things I miss about her, then added some pictures related to our wedding. Last year, I wrote about a few of our more memorable anniversary celebrations through the years.

This year, I’m not sure there’s much to say that I haven’t already said. So I’ll use this post mainly to share a few photos from our early years – both before and after we married in September 1976.

As I wrote last year, though Joanna is no longer here to celebrate with me: “I know she is nearby, for the places that separate Earth from Heaven tend to be very thin at times. (‘Simply put,’ writes author Todd Thorpe, ‘a thin place is where the veil between this world and the eternal world seems to disappear. Like walking between two worlds.’ – from his book Thin Places: Where Heaven and Earth Collide)”

Speaking of heaven, for some time I’ve been mulling a post about heaven – what little we know about it, yet my personal hopes and expectations of it. Silly, huh? Whatever we could imagine or hope, God will surely exceed those hopes and expectations. Our imaginations are puny next to God’s imagination. Nevertheless, Joanna’s passing has motivated me to spend time occasionally, the past 2½ years, pondering what heaven is like and what the afterlife will be like. So you can expect such a blog post, hopefully before long.

My pondering about heaven was “jump-started,” you might say, by the beautiful blog post published – only days after her passing – by my British friend Paul Beasley-Murray, in his Church Matters blog, in which he wrote about Jesus frequently likening the Kingdom of Heaven to a sumptuous banquet feast. As I read Paul’s The laughter of heaven, my mind was filled with the beautiful image of Joanna feasting at God’s great banquet table and laughing joyously with family and friends. It prompted me to write, the following day, The painful journey that took the love of my life, Joanna . . . to the great heavenly banquet.

My post on heaven won’t be filled with dogma, won’t obsess over “streets of gold” or even “mansions.” I’ll simply start with Jesus’s promise that “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:2-3, NIV) So, “a place,” not a palace or a mansion, simply “a place.” That’s all that’s promised, and that’s enough – as long as Jesus is there, Joanna is there, and other loved ones are there. My faith is in Jesus, and I take Him at his word.

Joanna and I were blessed with 44 anniversaries to celebrate together. More than that, we were blessed with a wonderful life together, and I am blessed now with memories that will last me until the Lord decides to take me home.

My 20 previous blog tributes to Joanna since her passing on February 14, 2021:

8/14/23 – After 2½ years, I miss Joanna more than ever
7/26/23 – 50 years ago this week – a special weekend in Boston with Joanna
2/12/23 – Two milestones: Today, Feb. 12, Joanna’s 70th birthday; Tuesday, Feb. 14, the 2nd anniversary of her passing
1/20/23 – 50 years ago tonight – January 20, 1973: Joanna & I went on our first date at OBU
10/28/22 – 50 years ago – October 1972: Audio of Joanna beginning to teach me Cantonese (3 mo. before our first date)
9/4/22 – On our 46th, remembering anniversary celebrations with Joanna through the years
8/14/22 – A year-and-a-half later: Missing Joanna more than ever
1/29/22 – One year ago – Joanna & I went out to eat together; then came the phone call that changed our lives
1/14/22 – 11 months of missing Joanna . . . my thoughts go back to another January, 49 years ago
12/14/21 – Ten months after Joanna’s passing . . . music, memories, and lumps in the throat
12/1/21 – 12/1/81, a great day as we became parents for the first time . . . Alison turns 40!
11/14/21 – Journeying with Joanna . . . Photo memories from a half-century (almost) of our travels together
9/14/21 – Pictures, pictures, pictures . . . remembering my wonderful trip with Joanna to Hong Kong, Beijing, and Macao 10 years ago this week
9/4/21 – Joanna and I were married 45 years ago today . . . Missing her and celebrating her
8/14/21 – Six months after Joanna’s passing . . . remembering her humor and all that she meant to me
7/14/21 – Five months after Joanna’s passing . . . remembering the lively soul who brought us joy
6/14/21 – Four months after Joanna’s passing . . . a few personal reflections
3/19/21 – Joanna spoke out against demeaning racial slurs and the fears they caused her as an Asian-American
2/22/21 – How Joanna and I got together . . . the beginning of our love story
2/19/21 – The painful journey that took the love of my life, Joanna . . . to the great heavenly banquet