One of my colleagues at work celebrated his 48th wedding anniversary last week. Compared to that the fourteen years my wife and I have been together seems rather brief. And I was rather late compared to some of my friends of similar age who are already twenty years plus into their marriages. Fourteen years represents only a third of my lifetime, while other friends have been married longer than they were single.
On the other hand, these last fourteen years have been the most exciting, most enjoyable, most important years of my life. It’s amazing what can happen when another person is willing to commit their life to being with you. Accepting responsibility for another person’s well-being is a sobering reality. Then add three more and a small menagerie and life can become pretty complicated.
Fourteen years, and I love my wife more than ever. I love her in a way that only fourteen years together can develop. Romantic love is a great starting place, but how can it compete with the deeper love that comes from shared experiences, shared struggles, shared triumphs, and shared dreams? I love my wife for who she is, for who I am because of her, and who we may yet becomes together.
My hair is much more gray than fourteen years ago. My wife is more beautiful than the day we married, and few things are as comforting as the feel of her next to me. No, we don’t always get along, but we make a good team. When we’re on our game we’re hard to beat. She’s fun and exciting, and can still surprise me. She’s my friend and partner in ways I didn’t even know a woman could be. She’s shown me other sides of life I never really appreciated before, and together we’ve explored places neither of us would have expected.
She’s stood by me even when I’ve lost faith in myself. There are times when I wonder why she’s even here next to me in the first place. I’m not an easy person to live with under the best of circumstances, and we’ve been through periods that were anything but. Amazingly, she’s still right here next to me.
All of this in just fourteen short years. If our relationship has already grown so much, developed such depth, explored so much new ground I can’t even begin to imagine what things will be like when we’ve reached 48 years.
But I wouldn’t miss it for the world.
Thank you, Kultas Vaimoni, for fourteen amazing years. I can’t wait to see what we do for an encore.
Couldn’t be more happy for you.
You are welcome. :)It’s been my pleasure and there’s no one I would have rather shared these past 14 years with. Can’t wait to see what the next 14 years will bring! Here’s a prediction: we’ll be living in Florida and taking care of injured alligators. (Now, even running a farm animal sanctuary sounds good to compare to that, eh? 🙂 )
I love you!
Why yes, yes it does! 😉