Our Story: Ian and Nickie Connell, married 25 years 10/16/24
Our Times
Ian and I are both in our 70’s. When we were just entering adulthood, the Vietnam war had just ended, and everyone was searching for peace. This was the time that Woodstock made history. Sex, drugs, (mostly marijuana) and rock and roll were prevalent. Divorce was not as acceptable during these times and technology had not arrived on the scene yet. Consequently, this made for communication to be had on the phone (landline) or in person only. Our parents were still married, which gave us the idea that marriage was forever.
Our Story
For our amazing God Tale to take place, God had a lot of parts to move into place for each of us to be united with our perfect provisions. I moved from Indiana in 1979 and was working at a large hospital in Fort Myers, Florida. In 1993 Ian was sent to Fort Myers from Australia to open and manage a huge sugarcane harvester parts warehouse. He was in the U.S. on a work Visa.
I had just come out of an 8 year very toxic marriage, it was my third such situation (now, don’t judge me). Although a Christian my whole life, I had created Ishmaels in my life. Ian was a 48 year old bachelor. Neither of us were looking for a relationship with anyone at this time. In fact, I was done with marriage and he was going back to Australia.
One of my coworker’s wives worked in Ian’s company and they thought we had a lot in common. For over two years, this couple tried to put us together on a blind date, which never happened. Then in 1998 his company reserved the Seminole Railroad Christmas Dinner Train for a Christmas party. I love anything about Christmas! So he was urged to call to see if I would be his plus one and I agreed. There were no sparks! But for some reason I had this feeling that he might call again.
Unbeknownst to me, he went to Wales with his boss for Christmas, so several weeks went by and he was forgotten. Out of the blue, he called to say his company was hosting a retirement party at a restaurant that I could never afford to go to, so in spite of myself, I accepted.
The next weekend, I needed a plus one so I invited him and he agreed. That was THE WEEKEND that God sparked both of us. We started dating, I was trying to not fall in love AGAIN and he was trying not to fall in love the first time. I remember talking to God after one of our dates, “God, I really like him, can I keep him?” I laughed and sat quietly and I didn’t hear a “no!”
My bucket list included taking diving lessons, which I mentioned to him, as he grew up on the Great Barrier Reef and dove all the time. He said, yes, do it and someday, “when” you visit me in Australia (also on my bucket list) we can dive the reef. What? I was invited to travel and see him? And dive? I was tingly! Long story short, I took lessons and went to the Keys for certification. He received permission from my divemaster to attend. So, here I am diving in the Keys! It was a beautiful, sunny day, with prisms coming down in the water with beautiful fish swimming around, I was euphoric!
All of a sudden the dive master motions for me to swim with Ian. I was reluctant because I was not sure he would know what to do if I had any issues, but I obeyed. In a few minutes, he unzipped his wetsuit, reached in and handed me a laminated paper. I looked around at the rest of the class and no one else was reading anything. He shook it at me to read it, it was a marriage proposal on reef paper. I stopped breathing! I just stared at him and he shrugged his shoulders as if to say… well? Then I nodded yes. In October of 1999, we celebrated our marriage twice, once in Florida and the other in Australia on the Pacific ocean coast.
Our History
Over the last few years, we have retired, moved and experienced much trauma in our immediate family. Without going into it all, we have experienced death, loss of a home by fire, and illness/injury. We value communication and make it a priority. We believe that healthy communication draws us towards intimacy. These days we send encouraging and loving texts throughout the day. We read God’s word and pray together nightly.
Our Prayer
We pray that our children and those that God has allowed us to know and have known us will understand by watching us that God and our faith must come first. We would hope that they would learn to listen and to speak truth in love. That our legacy would drive them to be discipled and to disciple others all their days.
Our God
God had to move a man halfway across the world, and I had to move from Indiana, talk about moving parts and timing! When we were young, the Beatles were the rage. “Gotta Get You Into My Life” is a song we listened to in our early years. There is a line in that song that says “We were meant to be”. We are absolutely beyond a doubt, each other’s perfect provisions. This union was totally planned, orchestrated, implemented and blessed by God. What a difference when we allow Him to take control.
Check out our podcast with Ian and Nickie here!
