The story of Kathy and Norm all started way back in 1962, when a series of lifelong connections began that led to their recent engagement!
Kathy met Julie in junior high school in 1959, and they later became college roommates at San Diego State University. In 1968, Julie met Norm and they became engaged and eventually married. Meanwhile, Kathy met Sam on a blind date and married in 1972. Over the years, Kathy, her five roommates (including Julie), and their spouses stayed in touch, often vacationing together – calling themselves the “Cruise Group.”
Fast forward 46 years. Norm’s wife, Julie, was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, and Kathy’s husband, Sam, died suddenly on New Year’s Day. Kathy and Norm had known each other their entire adult lives, but neither one saw their relationship as anything more than “the spouses of friends.” In fact, on Super Bowl Sunday that year when somebody said to Kathy, “How about you and Norm getting together?”, Kathy’s response was, “Are you nuts?”
Then God stepped in! On New Year’s Day 2019, the anniversary of Sam’s death, a friend asked Kathy, “What’s your word for this year?” Her response was “companionship.” “My life was so full. I didn’t anticipate or even want a man in my life.” As far as Norm went, “I still saw him as Julie’s widower. He was in a deep, difficult mourning that was not part of my life.”
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” Ephesians 3:20
Surprisingly, on January 12, Norm called Kathy to say he’d like to get together to just talk with her. At the end of what turned out to be a three-hour talk, Kathy knew that God had orchestrated this meeting. “ I didn’t think about him as Julie’s widower anymore. I was startled how easy it was to be with him. This led to a God-centered relationship that I’d not experienced before.” For Norm, “We’d known each other for so long. There was no mystery. We were at each other’s weddings. But I realized how lonely I had been, and now with Kathy, it felt like the beginning of the end of a monstrous grief journey. It was the first time I felt willing to open up to the feeling that gave me shivers. This was different! She was my safe harbor.
God responded to Kathy’s desire for companionship and Norm’s desire to get back into “real life” in a way that was far more than either could ask or imagine. Their story has now come full circle.
Please continue to pray for Norm’s health.