Seven Years. One Love. One Village.

My darling Lizzy,

Papa wrote this on August 2, 2026 — the day mummy and I celebrated seven years of marriage. I want you to read this one day and understand something important: love isn’t only what you can do with your own two hands. This year, ALS meant papa needed help showing mummy how much I love her, and our village showed up without hesitation. I want you to carry this with you — that asking for help is not weakness, and that the people who love you will prove it in the smallest, most beautiful ways. I love you my beautiful girl!

Originally written on August 2, 2026

Chicago, Illinois

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” — 1 Corinthians 13:4

Seven years ago today—364 days after the moment we met—Grace and I stood together and said, “I do.”

SEVEN YEARS. ONE LOVE. ONE VILLAGE. ❤️

Tomorrow will mark eight years since the night my heart first recognized hers.

Back then, we could not have imagined the life waiting for us. We traveled across the world, from salt winds and rolling tides to sunlit roads and rain-washed paths. We wandered through Costa Rica, Spain, Italy, Amsterdam, Paris, and London. We shared sunsets, boat rides, car rides, train rides, churches, museums, wineries, great food, better wine, old friends, new friends, and more adventures than I can count.

We built a home with Taylor’s pawprints running through it. We prayed, waited, and BELIEVED for years. Then God gave us our beautiful Lizzy—our miracle and His promise fulfilled.

And then ALS changed nearly everything.

Marriage is hard. Marriage with ALS is harder.

But loving Grace is not.

ALS has taken away my ability to walk into a flower shop, choose the flowers myself, carry them home, or hold a pen and write her card.

But ALS has NOT taken away my ability to love her.

This year, I needed help showing that love.

I asked a dear friend Jane if she could pick up flowers for Grace. She said yes without hesitation. She tried three different florists searching for freesias—the traditional flower of the seventh anniversary. None had them. So she improvised—seven deep red roses, one for each year of our marriage, soft touches of purple, and brought it all to our door. I asked her to write out the words for me, and she did:

My beautiful Grace, my love so true, Seven roses, seven years with you. Through joy, through prayer, through life’s embrace, Forever my love, my heart—Cecil ❤️

At almost the same time, another dear friend Becky was visiting Sausalito for the first time. She knew it was one of my favorite places on Earth and asked if there was somewhere special she could say a prayer for us. I sent her one of my old blog posts about the town. She found the church where my dear cousin Julie and her husband Joel were married—a place Grace and I once visited together—and prayed for us on our anniversary.

Flowers in Chicago.

A prayer in Sausalito.

Love traveling thousands of miles and arriving exactly when we needed it.

People often say it takes a village to raise a child. We have learned that it also takes a village to live with ALS, protect a marriage, raise our beautiful Lizzy, and help a husband continue romancing his wife.

Today, our village helped me be Grace’s HUSBAND—not only her patient.

That was an extraordinary gift.

Grace, you are still the most loving, spontaneous, honest, determined, courageous, passionate, and FIERCE person I have ever known. You are full of love and fire. You frustrate me more than anyone else—and you love me in a way no one else ever could. I know you would say exactly the same about me! 😂

You are my wife, my best friend, my partner, my caregiver, the extraordinary mummy to our beautiful Lizzy, and the greatest love of my life.

Through every joy, challenge, prayer, adventure, argument, hospital stay, and miracle, you have remained beside me.

Seven years ago, I promised to love you for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.

Today, I understand those words more deeply than I ever could have on the day I first spoke them.

My beautiful Grace, my love so true, Seven roses, seven years with you. Through joy, through prayer, through life’s embrace, Forever my love, my heart—my Grace. ❤️

Happy seventh wedding anniversary, my darling.

Here is to beginning our eighth year together.

THE BEST IS STILL YET TO COME. ❤️❤️

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Throughout this day, I texted Grace this poem one stanza every couple hours so she was showered with love…

“One summer night, God led me to you,

And something in my heart already knew.

Through seven years, His promise came true;

With every passing day, I fell deeper for you.

Across the world, from ahore to shore,

Through salt winds and rolling tides that roar,

Each sunlit road and rain-washed view

Became more beautiful because I shared it with you.

Through distant cities and quiet dawns,

We found our home wherever love carried us on.

No matter where our journey may go,

Beside you, Grace, I am always home.

With Taylor beside us, our family grew;

Pawprints and laughter joined me and you.

Through every season, every place,

We built a home filled with love, my Grace.

We prayed, we waited, chose BELIEVE,

Then God gave more than hearts conceive.

Our Lizzy—His promise, perfect and true—

My greatest miracle came through you.

When life grew heavy, you stayed near;

Your love made room for hope, not fear.

When ALS changed all I knew,

It could never touch my love for you.

You are my strength, my breath, my song;

With Grace beside me, my faith stays strong.

Through every storm and every test,

In you, my heart has found its rest.

Faith, family, and friends stand by our side,

A circle of love stretching far and wide.

But at its center, constant and true,

Will always be my endless love for you.

Seven roses, seven years—our hearts forever one.

Grace, my answered prayer, my morning sun.

Through joy, through prayer, through all we have done,

I will be forever yours, till all time is done.”

—Cecil ❤️

GO ADVENTURE ◆ GO TRAVEL ◆ GO LIVE

ALWAYS BE EPIC