Holding Pattern But Together

Last year Ron and Carol left for The Isles of Palms on Valentines Day and Marsha was home with me. It felt good to have her home for one of the days we celebrate our love for one another. Today at church the sermon was about marriage and the mistake of thinking romantic love is enough or even preferable for a relationship. Romantic love, as the rector said, is about getting our needs met and often requires the other to change in order to do that well or better or good enough. I know early in our marriage some of our struggles were about my not meeting Marsha's needs and Marsha missing the mark with some of mine. For many years now, however, we have had a different appreciation for the nature and reality of real love. I am so grateful that I got to share that kind of love. I would not have thought that kind of love was even possible between mere humans. I'm not saying we achieved perfection, that's the point. We loved even with our imperfections, we loved even when one of us made a mistake. We celebrated our last Valentine's Day knowing that our love was sacrificial and other centered and permanent. We could see the end of our earthly journey together, we were not thinking we had much time, but we were secure that we could get through anything together and with God's help. It was a special Valentine's Day indeed.