A dear friend took me aside a few months ago to share with me some words of wisdom. You see, she too found herself in my situation. She was divorced at an early age with two small children. She also then married an older man. Her grandmother, who had also married up - as I like to call it- gave her this advice....
Make every moment count. Whether you are with him for two years or twenty, it doesn't matter. Go with him to meetings every chance you can. Do the extra little things like take walks and spend time just the two of you. Go on dates. Hold hands. Go on trips. These chances won't be there forever, you have to enjoy your marriage now.
I try very hard to live by this. So does David. We go to meetings, we squeeze in dates whenever we can. We have our evening ritual that is quality time with each other. Every time he's says "How do you feel about doing this.... or going here.... or visiting such and such place....". I say yes. And so does he when I get hair brained ideas. We take road trips with and without our kids. We fly to this meeting or that meeting. We go antiquing through the hill country of Texas. It's wonderful! There are some circumstances that require me to have to stay at home, but I try to say yes as often as I can.
This week a different friend lost her husband in a tragedy. It reminded me of this philosophy to always say yes to doing things with your spouse. In this day and age we can't take growing old together for granted. We aren't guaranteed tomorrow. This goes for spouses, kids and everyone we love.
It takes time. It takes effort. Sometimes it's even exhausting, but I've never regretted one moment I've spent with David or our boys.
I guess you can say our household has a "Carpe Diem" attitude. We seize every chance to make wonderful memories, and we thank God for the opportunity to do so.
Don't take your days together for granted. Seize them.
LLM
