A Different View of Marriage

Mountain Laurel in full bloom

Our walk yesterday started out beautiful.

It ended like this. Our front windshield on the drive home yesterday - Yikes!

 

On one of my works, a little boy who was with his mom saw my camera and said, "That's a cool camera! Can I take a picture with it?" How could I resist that adorable face!

It's been a strange kind of week and one in which I mostly have spent it trying to stay hydrated. We are in the middle of a heat wave and the past couple of days the humidity has been added to the mix. 

I think it's felt so strange because my normal routine has been off. I've had a couple of internal 3 a.m. wake-up calls and then struggled to get back to sleep. So I've had some days of just feeling lethargic between the lack of sleep and the heat. 

I was the host for an online zoom event for women around the world and that was a little nerve-wracking as I prayed my connection would work. Later that day, I led a local Bible study as well. 

I've also been busy working on a district event this weekend and am heading out this morning for a few days. So that took the place of most of my normal activity.

We spent Wednesday celebrating our 37th wedding anniversary with a 5 mile hike and then a picnic lunch on top of a boulder overlooking the valley. Beautiful!

Yesterday, Dan and I stopped to walk before I was scheduled to pick up a rental car from an airport an hour from here. We were going to walk, Dan was going to drop me off at the airport and then go visit his dad. However, we were about a mile into the walk when we got caught in a major rainstorm in the middle of the woods including thunder and some scary lightning. The forest is not really the place you want to be when that happens. We were drenched by the time we got back to the car and there was no way I was going into an airport looking like a drowned rat (and I'm not exaggerating). So I canceled the rental car and decided to take my car on the trip instead. We ended up coming straight home and got into dry clothes. Dan will go visit his dad a different day.

I am thankful though that I get to have these adventures with my husband. When we first got married I thought marriage was all about romantic love and everything being just wonderful. And yes, there are times when that's true. But the longer we are together the more I realize that love is about sticking together through good times and bad, through the ups and downs of life. It's loving each other despite the quirks and sometimes, the annoying habits. It's showing up on a daily basis and working through the differences. It's loving each other even when things don't go according to plan or turn out as expected. 

I am thankful that we chose each other and that we've weathered many storms together. There are days when we are in the middle of torrential rain, but then there are also days when the sun is shining and we feel like we are on top of the world. 

Marriage is hard work, but it takes perseverance, commitment and learning to put others above yourself. And sometimes it's learning how to work together when you didn't always have the best examples of that. I'm thankful for the man I chose and looking forward to many more adventures. I have a different view of marriage than I did 37 years ago, but it's definitely a better and more mature view.