Sunshine and scribbles

"There is a holiness to the heart's affections"

John Keats

Once, when I was much younger, (when I was high schooled and teenaged), I sat barefoot on the kitchen counter at my home in the country and I read a picture book to my mom. I had checked it out from the library one summer afternoon. I'm so glad I did.  

It was called 'What Love Is' by Carol Lynn Pearson. As I read it to her, I began to cry. Then she began to cry. And we both cried. And hugged. And I hoped in my heart (and she hoped too) that one day I would find just who I needed. Just the right one.    

You see, the book was a love story of sorts - sappy, but sweet - and it told of both significant and small events in the lives of a man and woman - starting out when they first fell in love. 

"Their first touch was at seventeen when the moon was high and her hair was soft and her skin was warm and her lips were full and her heart beat fast against his chest. As he looked at her looking at him, he had never seen anything so beautiful - and he thought, 'now I know what love is.'"

And then, when they marry, their feelings deepen. And then when they fight, they make up, and their feelings deepen more. And they have have a child. And then two. And then life is full of stress and one child is sick and the other writes with magic marker on the walls and flushes earrings down the toilet. And he comes home from work and saves the day (and the mommy). And as she's resting, she hears him singing to the children down the hall and says to herself "now I know what love is". 

And the book continues on throughout their lives. And as the years pass, they feel deeper, and much more. One anniversary, money is tight and he lost his job, so instead of a fancy dinner, they eat cheese sandwitches at home by candlelight. One year, she gets 'employee of the year'. And one year there's an accident. And pretty soon they have grandchildren. 

"Thousands of touches through the following years - in celebration, and in grief."  

"Their final touch was at eigthy-nine and her heartbeat rose on the monitor beside her bed as it always did when she heard his walker in the hall. Her hair was thin and her skin was cold and her lips were dry, but she blew him just a hint of a kiss, which he caught with a hand that shook and pressed it to his cheek where the tear was. As he looked at her looking at him, silent and smiling, he had never seen anything so beautiful - and they knew that they knew what love is."

-----

As cliche and routine as this little book may be, there is such sweetness in imagining your life lived long and full, with a suitcase of memories, and a heart aged with a lifetime's worth of emotions. If I fast-forward sixty years, I so desire that. And it feels peaceful and comforting to know that I am married to someone who envisions the same.   

There is something divine in the relationship between a husband and wife. I'm learning this. As the days go by, the more I can see how the very essence of marriage shows Heavenly Father's perfect love for His children. And it would be marvelous and wonderful if our lives were completely and entirely perfect and there was no fear and no pain and nothing ever went wrong. Or that we were never stubborn or impatient, and never spoke unkindly. We work towards that, and someday we just may get things entirely right. But for now, the thought of companionship through life (and forever) is perfect enough. To know that we've promised our faith and loyalty to each other and to God fills my heart with such a peaceful feeling. Such a promise binds us. It truly does. It helps us to look forward together, it helps us forgive one another. It brings us comfort and reminds us of promise. And it sustains us. It always will.   

PS: Click here to read the entire book 'What Love Is'.