The year was 1983.  It was a very memorable year for me.  I got married, my husband graduated from chiropractic college, we moved to his hometown back in Illinois, bought the family home, and started his chiropractic practice in the rural town of Sandwich, Illinois.  It was an exciting and stressful time in our lives.

The Chiropractic Wife

While studying for the CPA exam, I was also working with my husband to build his practice.  I was learning about chiropractic, how to navigate the ins and outs of insurance billing, and how to manage the front desk operations.  Unfortunately I didn’t pass that exam, and I took it more than once.  I gave up my dream of being a CPA and caught my husband’s dream.  I became the typical chiropractic wife—devoted to chiropractic and to my husband’s business.

For the early years of our marriage we led a blissful life, working long hours to build the practice and traveling across country to chiropractic conferences.  His second year out of chiropractic college, he decided to change from the more traditional manual (hands-on) adjusting technique to a more gentle technique called Activator Methods.  From that point on he has devoted nearly all of his patient treatment to the Activator technique.

30 Years Later

We no longer live in Illinois, and I no longer work for my husband, but have done so at varying times of our marriage.  We live in the suburbs of Seattle, Washington where my husband started another practice based on the Activator technique.  He is an Advanced Proficiency rated doctor.  Way back when my husband started using the Activator technique I knew that someday he would be up front teaching.  Someday is here.

My husband, Dr. Curtis Nelson, teaching at the Phoenix Activator seminar.

I am so proud of my husband and the platform teaching role he now holds in his profession.  (He has been an assistant teacher for many years.)  His new teaching role started last spring.  Last month, I got to travel with him to a conference for the first time in years.  I wasn’t the typical chiropractic wife, but I knew it was time for me to step back into the role of wife to my husband, who just happens to be a chiropractor.  The timing couldn’t have been more God anointed for me.

Weekend in Arizona

A chiropractic couple we’ve known for those 30 years recently moved to Seattle and is starting over with a practice here.  The husband, Dr. Ed Shepherd, has been teaching at Activator conferences for years.  So we joined the Shepherds for a weekend trip to Phoenix where the men taught and the women played.  My friend Cheryl and I explored the Red Rock Country of Sedona one day and the Chihuly Exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix the next.  Breath-taking views abound.  The heat reminded me of Spain, but the views were definitely the Southwest.

Cheryl and me on the way to Sedona.

On Saturday night, spouses were invited to join the teaching doctors for dinner with the co-founder and CEO of Activator Methods, Dr. Arlan Fuhr, and his wife, Judi.  I was torn.  I wanted to explore Sedona and have a leisurely dinner with Cheryl.  Cheryl, who works with her husband, wanted to return to Phoenix and join the chiropractic dinner party.  Sedona would have to wait until another trip.

When seated at the dinner table, I had the unexpected honor of sitting closest to Dr. Fuhr (aside from his wife).  An introvert by nature and not up to date on the status of the chiropractic profession or advances in Activator, I felt a bit awkward.  With a heart for Spain, I asked him about Activator in Europe, and specifically in Spain.

Dinner with the Fuhr’s and the other chiropractic instructors.

I was surprised to learn that the Fuhr’s were on their way to Madrid in just a few days.  I was even more shocked and excited to hear he was teaching Activator to the first chiropractic graduates in an accredited program in Spain.  Naturally I brought up my summer travels to Spain, and in time, how my story in Journeys to Mother Love is connected to Spain.

In God’s Timing

By the end of the weekend, Dr. Fuhr had an autographed copy of my book in his hands for him and Judi.  It brought a tear to my eye to give away this copy of my book.  I know it landed in good hands.  I know it is an indirect expansion of my Spanish connection.  I know it was not coincidence at this point in my life to have this encounter.  It felt like a kiss from Above.

Dr. Fuhr and me, expanding my Spanish connection.

It took 30 years for my husband to step into his role as an Activator instructor.  My role is no longer as a business partner in his practice.  It is now as a spousal supporter of his professional career.  I have my own career now in writing and indirectly in ministry to the people of Spain.  The two intersected in a restaurant in Phoenix in a way that only God could’ve orchestrated.

It’s not just another old wives’ tale.  God’s timing was once again, perfect.

Cathedral Rock, Sedona, AZ

Chihuly glass art exhibit at the Desert Botanical Gardens.