32 And Counting

Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary. We had a very low-key kinda day, from a celebration standpoint. I hosted our church's Quilt Ministry Summer Picnic here at the house at lunchtime. There was an abundance of good food and enough yummy leftovers (Yeah!) to serve him for dinner last evening. While he ate those, (I was still full) we each sipped a glass of wine and reveled in our complete and total contentment as we reflected on the early days and talked about the tomorrows. Milestones, such as anniversaries, are made for just that; aren't they? We leashed up the dogs after that and took our customary neighborhood walk, then concluded the evening on the patio where I cut back the flowers blooming in the planters and we chatted over the week's events. It's been a busy week for me with outside commitments, meetings and decisions, big decisions, to be made. These commitments have taken a lot of my time and energy. My husband has been completely supportive and totally helpful through this process. I am blessed. This scripture passage was read at our wedding in 1975. It may have been read at yours. It seems like I've always known the passage, been familiar with the words... but did I know them? Really? Have I always known what love is?

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

⁴Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant ⁵or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. ⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸Love never ends.

These words, divinely dictated; spoken by Paul to the people gathered in Corinth, and repeated at least a billion times since, mean more today precisely because of what they represent to me personally... my perspective and awareness are heightened through eyes opened by God-given knowledge and wisdom granted to an immensely grateful heart. A heart (and mind and soul) that has lived with, and loved, the same wonderful man for all this time. A man who is perfectly happy to be served leftovers when he knows I'm too tired and occupied to cook another meal for dinner, even on our wedding anniversary. A man who has given me stability and freedom at the same time. A man who is always there for me, even when he isn't physically present. A man who understands me when I don't understand myself. A man who recognizes my need for a closet full of fabric to cut up into pieces just so that I can sew them back together again! A man who believes in me. Now I know...

this is love...

32 years and counting!
Life is Good!