Love Above All

Happy anniversary to my lover, best friend and wife Stephanie Beth Byriel-Penager! The above picture was taken just three years ago on November 11, 2017. As you can see, it was a day filled with love, laughter, joy, fun, tears, and unmistakable spiritual connection with our family that we're honored chose to share this day with us. Spanning from those that have been with us both since our birth (my older brother Dennis Penager, Steph's parents Steve and Sherry Byriel, sister Sarah Farnsworth and Uncles Rick & Dennis Nissen) to those that have soared with us during our highest highs and comforted us during our lowest lows; this was a day that will eternally live in infamy.

To say our journey to this day was challenging, would be the understatement of the year. Yes, I'm referencing 2020 which has been unprecedented in all our lifetimes to date with nothing more need be said. Nothing worth having will ever be easy and in the same breath, it was and remains worth absolutely everything it took to arrive here. For anyone that ever questions if their dreams really can come true, let this picture and our story serve as a reminder that yes they can.

To say that it was a gift straight from our heavenly father, would also be an understatement. Words fall short to express the love and eternal bonds that all who were in attendance had respectively formed with us prior to our wedding. They then continue to fall into an abyss in describing how since this time we all have formed a unified greatest love story ever told. Only three years removed from this day of our wedding, we've newly minted two sets of grandparents (John & Rose Nelson; Beth Strand and Charlie Myking); added four new additions (Ellison Mueller, Caden & Carter Braithwaite, and Cayden Jones); lost our beloved John Nelson Sr., and added innumerably to our wild and crazy adventures together. Included in our family, but noticeably missing persons who were unable to attend were our daughter Mikayla, Janet & John Nelson Sr., my sister Maria, her husband Darryl and children Cornel and Zora. Though not at this event physically, they were and remain our heart and soul.

It's been said, " people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime." This picture represents our 'lifetime' ride or die crew. I share this blog post in celebration of the only thing that really matters...family. Money, friends, and material things will come and go like the sun rises then falls daily; family however, is forever. In this craziest of years, don't hesitate to let those you love know how special and important they are to you. No day is promised, however, each moment we're blessed to be alive and grace this earth; let's do our best to put love above all and revel in our perfect imperfections. Thanks for sharing your lives with us!

Believe...