Today and Every Day
This isn't my typical post about cute things the kids have said or done, but it still bears posting. Micah and I will have been married 6 years this summer. 6 years. It doesn't seem like long, but we've done a lot of living in those few years! We, of course, imagined a "happily ever after" on the day we got married and I think, in our naive minds, that meant peace and good times for years to come. It hasn't always been that way. Not on the outside. We've had cancer scares, job losses, financial stress, miscarriage, and, most recently (a blessing and a challenge in one), a busy young family of not 4, but 254. There's been plenty of reason for us to be pulled apart. There are those dry times, where it's a conscious decision to connect. But it amazes me to look back over 6 years and see how much the hard times have cemented our own bond.
Life is busy these days. Insanely busy. It is literally impossible to have a whole conversation while our kids are underfoot, as our boys have plenty of thoughts of their own to get out in the open. In the evenings, there are often needs in the hall to be attended to. But we've finally found our groove. For just half an hour (sometimes an hour, sometimes two!), we head to our room. We have all the time we want, uninterrupted, to talk and catch up. It's meant turning the TV off early, telling the guys we're heading in for the night, and putting everything else on hold, but it has become, honestly, a lifeline for us. It's our time--the only time that's just ours. I can't believe the difference it's made in how connected we are throughout the entire day! Plus, it gives me a chance to "get my words out," as Micah likes to say, before we fall asleep.
There's a couple at our church that we've often observed and admired. They're older than us, and their kids are all in high school and college. There's nothing remarkable about them, and they've never talked about their marriage in front of us. But there's just something about them. They "do life together," and it shows. Even when they're on the other side of the room from each other (which isn't often), you know they're reading each other's thoughts and absolutely in tune with one another. They're laid back and fun to be around, and you can tell they love every second of their time together. If there's something they can set aside so that they can work together, they do it. Nothing else seems to be as important as their own bond with each other. It's inspiring and encouraging. We've begun to pray that twenty years down the road, we would be that couple that just "does life together"--although I don't want to wait until 20 years have passed to start!
There's a song that's been in my head for days now. Marry Me- Train It's catchy, but there's more to it than that. It's talking about getting married, although the words are every bit as resounding several years after the big day. I think it's the line, "Marry me--today and every day" that has me humming it over and over. That's absolutely what marriage is. I loved our wedding day. I love to think over the details and hold those memories so close. But that wasn't when we "got married." Not really. It's been in the daily recommitting of ourselves to each other--sometimes by conscious decision, sometimes because there's nothing else we'd rather do--that we are married. What a blessing to spend my life by his side, to relive that "joining of lives" over and over again!
Life is busy these days. Insanely busy. It is literally impossible to have a whole conversation while our kids are underfoot, as our boys have plenty of thoughts of their own to get out in the open. In the evenings, there are often needs in the hall to be attended to. But we've finally found our groove. For just half an hour (sometimes an hour, sometimes two!), we head to our room. We have all the time we want, uninterrupted, to talk and catch up. It's meant turning the TV off early, telling the guys we're heading in for the night, and putting everything else on hold, but it has become, honestly, a lifeline for us. It's our time--the only time that's just ours. I can't believe the difference it's made in how connected we are throughout the entire day! Plus, it gives me a chance to "get my words out," as Micah likes to say, before we fall asleep.
There's a couple at our church that we've often observed and admired. They're older than us, and their kids are all in high school and college. There's nothing remarkable about them, and they've never talked about their marriage in front of us. But there's just something about them. They "do life together," and it shows. Even when they're on the other side of the room from each other (which isn't often), you know they're reading each other's thoughts and absolutely in tune with one another. They're laid back and fun to be around, and you can tell they love every second of their time together. If there's something they can set aside so that they can work together, they do it. Nothing else seems to be as important as their own bond with each other. It's inspiring and encouraging. We've begun to pray that twenty years down the road, we would be that couple that just "does life together"--although I don't want to wait until 20 years have passed to start!
