Well, today is my 44th Wedding Anniversary, so I thought I’d write about this experiment that some of us choose to endeavor.  I say “experiment” because when a person undertakes the prospect of living with someone for the rest of his or her life, there is no way of knowing what the future will be, and yet, you promise to go through it all with this person.

As for me, I remember having a plan for my life.  I was going to have a career first, then after I was established, in my mid 30’s, I’d marry and have a family.  I was young then, and didn’t know anything about how all that would work out.  It was just a scenario I had played in my mind and it seemed reasonable.  Little did I know about how unlikely it would be to find someone I wanted to date, let alone, marry, if I started looking in my mid 30’s.

But then, I fell in love with my best friend.  Soon, it was clear that my plan had changed.  And so, we married.  We were young, in love and happy.  We had children, a girl and a boy.  They were happy and healthy.  We were so blessed.   

We still are.  And yet, we have had hard times.  We have struggled.  I often think of the times when money was tight. Life was tough, but we were still happy.  We were in it together and together we made it work.  Those were the days we found out what we were made of.  Those are some of my fondest memories.

Time passed and challenges came and went.  We got through them with various degrees of pain and suffering.  Our fathers died.  We grieved them terribly.  Our first grandchild was born and we were there to witness it.  Unbelievable joy and wonder filled our souls.  Our son died. Horrible grief gripped us and clouded our joy.  It was the hardest thing we had to face and suffer.  We survived, but not unscathed.  We eventually healed.  And we grew.

And so, we continue to live this life with which we have been blessed.  Now we have 3 grandchildren.  And life goes on.  And we go through it all . . . together.