27 Years of Marriage

Celebrating 27 years of marriage. My husband made reservations at a nice restaurant for us to go to tonight even though yesterday was the actual day. Our lives are very busy and we hardly get any time to be together, but that won't always be the case. Once I finish my class, things will calm down and I will be able to get back to a normal routine and we will start doing things together on a regular basis again.

I just had a birthday this week too, and that makes me another year older as well. I keep asking myself where the time has gone and what the future holds.

Someone asked me recently; What is the magic behind the success of your marriage?

There are so many variables to this question, it is difficult to narrow it down, because as we all know love sometimes is just not enough to keep people together.

What I will say is that you have to want to be together through the rough and the smooth patches in life, because you just never know what life will throw out at you. Each time you overcome an obstacle you grow from the experience and hopefully it makes you stronger. There needs to be a mutual respect for one another and you should want to build each other up and not tear them down. Each should fulfill the dreams they have with the love and support of the other, after all we are all different and dream of different things. This should be an opportunity for growth.

Tonight as we ate dinner at the restaurant we celebrated our anniversary at, I observed a young couple come in. They were seated at a table for two not far from where we were sitting. They smiled, laughed and looked into each others eyes as young couples do when they first fall in love.

My breath caught when I saw the young man pull out a ring case and put it in front of the young woman. She looked at him in surprise. I didn't want to be caught staring, but I couldn't keep from watching this romantic scene playing out in front of me.

The young woman took the ring out of the case and looked at it. She looked up at her date with a smile and nodded. I couldn't hear what they were saying to each other, but the universal language of love was at play right in front of me. She slipped the ring on her finger with excitement and just glowed. She couldn't stop looking at the ring as she spread her fingers out and smiled. The young man grinned and nodded in full satisfaction and then they kissed. It was all so very romantic. I didn't even know them and tears came to my eyes.

Russ and I have lived a life time together and have had our good years and our not so good years, but we prevail and keep going with a deeper love and understanding than what we had when we were first married.

I wish the best for that young couple as their journey begins.

For Russ and I we are looking forward to many more years.

Life is good.