I am extraordinarily fortunate to be
celebrating 12 years of sharing married life with my man. Recently he made a special effort to surprise
me with a sweet gift and note to tell me how much he loves me and is proud of
me. He is far better at expressing his
emotions than I am. My instinct is more
to show love by actions than words, because when it comes to expressing my feelings,
words fail me. For a person who seems to
never run out of things to say, it is ridiculously hard for me to wax eloquent and
romantic, which always feels melodramatic and cheesy to me. But for his sake, I try.
For our anniversary
we went out for a simple date. Dinner
together, and then a visit to a local karaoke joint that we like to go to from
time to time. My dear husband sang a
duet with me as we held hands. He has
rarely sung in public since our high school choir days, where we met, so it is
special to me to hear him sing for me. I
sang a special song for him, but could not even say anything sweet to him about
it, other than that it was for him. I wanted to, but I just couldn’t find the words.
Over the last few years, our lives have changed
dramatically. We have been turned upside
down more than a few times, sometimes with great things, other times not so
great. But through it all we have always
surfaced together, always pulling closer together instead of floundering and
growing apart. I have no idea what the
secret is to having a marriage still happy after 12 years, other than just
love. We find a way to overcome
everything through love. We treat each
other with love and respect even as we recognize our own humanity and forgive
the mistakes and flaws that we all possess as imperfect beings. We find a way to laugh and love through all
of life’s speedbumps. My husband is the
one I want to turn to when I have a great day, or a horrible one. He is the first one I call, always. He is the one who fills in the gaps for me, as I do for him. Separate we are an incomplete puzzle, but together, the pieces fit perfectly.
