That incredible Friday, June 26, 1981, I left the church as Mrs. Rodney Alan Phillips! I could not wait for the night of becoming “Mr. & Mrs.” and now it was a reality. The ceremony was superb from the singing to the reading of 1 Corinthians 13, The Love Chapter, with the reciting of our vows thrown in. I just knew our love could survive through whatever came our way. I was 18 and he was 21, and the thought of making a home “free from disturbances” filled me with so much hope. And 1 Corinthians 13 solidified my desire for being on the receiving end of that type of sacrificial love. I fancied keeping the home while “Mr.” brought the ultimate sacrifice of warming it with that atoning adoration.

Shortly after leaving the church that night, we drove into the bay of a car wash in Kinder, Louisiana…