Grace, Grit, and 37 Years of Us

By LONNIE KING

October 22, 2025 marks 37 years since Dawn and I said “I do.”

It’s strange to think about how much life we’ve lived between those two words — all the jobs, the moves, the dreams that evolved or died or somehow came back around again.

Looking back, as I often do these days, it’s painfully obvious that we didn’t know how much we didn’t know. And maybe that’s a good thing, because there are some things in life you just have to learn with someone close to your side.

But what’s clearer than ever to me is this: every good thing I’ve learned about patience, empathy, and decency started with her.

She would never say that, of course. She’d probably laugh it off, tell me I’m exaggerating — or that I hadn’t fully completed the assignment. And, she’d be correct in telling you I’m still a work in progress.

But I know it’s true.

It’s her example — not any sermon I ever heard, not any verse I ever memorized — that taught me what it really means to care about people.

If I’ve developed a moral compass at all, it’s because she quietly helped build it.

She doesn’t see the world through slogans or dogma. She simply treats people well because that’s who she is and it is the right thing to do. I used to think kindness was something you preached about; she taught me it’s something you practice.

Watching her do that, over and over, reshaped how I think, how I respond, and how I believe.

There’s grace in that. The real kind — the kind that changes you by example, not argument. And it’s a big part of why I firmly believe that what you do in life says more about you, as a person, than anything you claim you believe, no matter who you claim your god to be.

In fact, you can preach to me all you want about your ‘love of Jesus’. But if it doesn’t look like the love of Dawn King, I don’t want to know about it.

Words mean little unless your actions match them. No one has taught me that more than she has.

It’s not a big deal, but we’ll spend this anniversary in Memphis, walking Beale Street and taking a riverboat cruise on the Mississippi. No big production, just time together — which, after 37 years, feels like the richest kind of celebration there is.

We’re kind of the poster kids for “Opposites Attract”. I can’t watch five minutes of the Hallmark Channel, but she doesn’t make me. She doesn’t love sports, but she doesn’t need to.

She loves me, and somehow that’s been enough to carry both of us through a lifetime of schedules, sacrifices, and seasons.

And if I ever manage to be a better man tomorrow than I was yesterday, it’ll be because I’ve spent nearly four decades watching how she loves the world.

Happy anniversary to us! Love you, babe!