In November of 2009, we down-sized from a large house in the country to a small apartment in Republic, Missouri, a suburb of Springfield. We had been living on a farm and my wife was becoming increasingly unhappy. For me, it was an attempt to stop the bleeding in our marriage. For her, it was the beginning of the end.
Shortly after moving, we endured a difficult Christmas, and, based on her experience with her parents’ divorce, she concluded that we weren’t going to make it. These were our circumstances entering the Spring of 2010.
My wife is a runner. She’s a gym rat in general, but especially, she is a runner.
The first 5K in the local “season” is the May Day 5K, which is held in Republic on the first Saturday in May. So today, we got up early and made the drive back to Republic for this year’s event.
It was difficult to go back to a place where so many bad memories linger, but that’s part of the restoration tour. More on that later, but this morning, it was about me supporting and cheering on my wife, my partner in love and life.
Last year, I don’t want to imagine what she was thinking before, during, and after the race. This year, it was us together; she the runner and I the cheerleader.
She was disappointed in her time this morning, but I was as proud of her as I could be. At last year’s race, I wanted her to know that I loved her and supported her. Her mind and heart were elsewhere. Today, on the ride back home, she told me how much it meant to have me there to cheer her in.
That’s the spirit of the restoration tour. I’ll share much more details in the days to come, but in short, the restoration tour is the process of going back to all of the times and places where we hurt each other, let each other down, and failed to love each other the way we promised to. It’s a healing of the hurts, a repairing of the damage. It’s a setting right of the wrongs. Restoring what once was and was meant to be beautiful, so that it is, in fact, beautiful again.
The Restoration Tour 