Sappiness

Today is my birthday. 

I was in the hotel bathroom this morning when I heard my phone ring and my husband answer my phone and start talking to my dad.  It was about 7:30 in the morning, and my only thought was, "Why is he calling me right now?  I talked to him two days ago!"

But then when I heard my dad singing his own version of the birthday song, I remembered.  "He must think it's my birthday."

I made the trip to see my husband at his out-of-town job because of this weekend being our birthday-anniversary-birthday weekend, but still the actuality of the date slipped my mind.  Thankfully, family and friends and Facebook remembered, so I felt thoroughly birthdayed by the end of it.

Sadly, I had to leave my dearly beloved on the industrial coast for a while longer, and by the time the uncontrolled sobs turned into a bearable aching in my heart, I was about a quarter of the way home. 

I just don't know how couples are able to do the long distance thing long term.  It tears me in two every time.

On the other hand, tomorrow is our 13th wedding anniversary, and even though we can't be together for it, I am so thankful that my heart hasn't stopped aching for my husband when he's not around.

After I stopped sobbing, I spent the trip home thinking about the last thirteen years and listening to the radio, which happened to be airing a show about healthy marriages, or something to that effect.  As I reminisced, I thought how thankful I am for two things.  One, that i was as sure as I could be, when I got married, that I was marrying the man that God meant for me; and two, that we made a mutual, outspoken decision, before we got married, that divorce would not be an option for us.

Those two things, and the grace of God, have seen us through rough and regular situations that other couples have split up or become enemies over.  So I am thankful to have gotten as far as we have and to find ourselves more in love with each other than when we got started, a situation, I'm sure, we anticipated could not possible.  But the heart, it has grown, and our love, it  has blossomed.

Thank you, my sweet hero husband, for your love and your tenderness and your raw Passion for all things worthy of involvement.  And thanks to God for grace and the gift of a loving marriage!