I stole this from the Oct 09 board. I thought it was very insightful.Written by Muffin'sMom...In a nutshell...you just never know. If you wake up in the morning and hug your spouse, it's been a good night. If at the end of the day you can hug them, and kiss them goodnight, it's been a good day.Because you know what? Life turns on a dime. You have no idea, standing here now, what will happen in the next 30 seconds...much less the next 50 year. You can't. Things will come out of nowhere and blindside you with the force of an 18 wheeler. Be ready to roll with whatever shows up...good, bad, strange, wonderous, tragic, whatever.I stood where you are almost 30 years ago. I married a man I had dated for four years and loved without question. I had spent much time with his family, and love them a lot. We had a daughter, moved a lot because of his job, and found a rhythm in our life.Nine years later, his mother dies, and on the weekend of the funeral we find out the my husband (the middle of 6) is adopted...and everyone knew but him. Now that came out of nowhere
Forward to now, his birth mother is part of our life, but his family is our family...end of story.Then, a year after that, at age 35, my husband had his first heart attack and vein surgery. To date, he has had 7 heart attacks, a stroke, and countless vein procedures. It wasn't til 5 years ago that they came up with a name for it. But, we make adjustments and move right along.The things that you plan now, some will happen, some won't. You'll have easy times and some quite a bit harder to bear. You have to decide now, that the first option is that ALWAYS you will stand back to back, protecting each other when it is one of your times to be less strong.There will be times you want to kill him...and him you. They will pass if you are kind and patient with each other. YOU DON'T HAVE TO AGREE ALL THE TIME. You will be disappointed if you think you will walk off into the sunset holding hands with stars in your eyes forever.After the wedding, take something from the day and put it in every single room of wherever you are living, your car, his car, your office...everywhere. That way, no matter where you are, when he aggravates the bejesus out of you (and he will) there will be SOMETHING to focus on to remind you of the love you shared on that day. If you just stare at it long enough, you'll remember why you love him and the reasons you want to take a breath and work it out.How do you last? Live TODAY, love TODAY. No one is promised forever, but you can get there if, together, you take it a day at a time. I am grateful every day that I wake up and we are all breathing...the rest is just background noise.Relax...