We’ve been through it.
We’ve almost lost a child to mental illness.
He’s carried me into the hospital when I was unable to walk and seizuring with meningitis.
We’ve sat and pondered the little pink strip silently together when the antibiotics they gave me resulted in a surprise blessing when the house was full and the bank accounts empty.
We’ve grieved together for grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends we have lost.
Four children under ten, budgeting every paycheque, falling asleep while reading bedtime stories, trying to get away for a night here and there when all you want to do ,after finally getting it all organized, is to stay home and sleep, taking remotes away from sassy kids, staying up late waiting on teenagers to get home, watching them make decisions which will lead to lots of real world learning-we’ve had all this in our rear view mirror.

I’ve held him after he had a stroke and whispered furiously “don’t you dare leave me” while waiting on the ambulance. I was being bossy again, he said later.

We’ve sat in lots of cold arenas (never sitting together because I’m a cheerer and you need to concentrate on plays ), and in the hard stands of countless sweltering horse rings. We’ve stayed up late many Christmas Eves’ putting together presents and eating cookies and carrots. We’ve loaded pigs in the rain, mended lots of fences (physically and mentally), laughed, fought, cried, and eaten a lot of good food together.

A good marriage is like a dance with the same partner to music which changes alot , and we have no control over what is playing but we both just choose to keeping dancing every day. When one of us wants to “sit this one out”, the other takes the lead. Sometimes not because we want to but after all this time, we know the work adds up to the whole thing working out somehow.
But how blessed are we-when the songs are easy and the smiles bubble up and the light of the world is just right-to look up from the dance and still see each other ?