Happy Anniversary To Those Who Married A Good One

 

There is MUCH  joy in sitting across from a dear friend over lunch. Friends for over 25 years.  A long four hour lunch.  Lots of catching up. Lots of chit chat over each others lives and then................

She leans in, she smiles this young girl crushing on a boy kind of smile and says, "Elizabeth I got a good one. He is a hard worker, great provider, a very good lover, even after 40 years.  Sure he has gained some weight, but he is a good man. He has always been my best friend.Some seasons in our life he has worked long hours while I was raising our kids, but I never once doubted his commitment and love to me. We have been through a lot together"

This summer my Facebook feed has been filled with the celebration of wedding anniversaries. Some a couple of  years, some ten or twenty years or more.  That lovely wedding picture posted and my heart leaps with great joy  I am like a young girl, listening, taking notes and praying that one day I may find a good one.  

As a single woman twice divorced, it's such a joy to see couples fighting for their love no matter what. The one thing that I hear over and over that follows all the gush is the trust in that "commitment" to each other. With each picture and post that streamed on Facebook, quiet prayers of "keep fighting for your love" because no one else will do that for you. No therapist, no mentor, no attorney. Believe me I know this to well. Those sad endings of your friends and his friends and no one, not one person will stand beside you and encourage you to fight for love.  Standing firm and holding hands no matter how life steps in.  I have sat back watching, learning and watching some of my closest friends work out love  and marriage and seeing how God is growing that love and growing them deeper into a love that only they know and share.I still dream and still wants to do the work, the hard work that I never got to do.  And here I am sitting and smiling and believing it's out there for all of us somewhere and someday.

 

After the cake is cut,and the guests have left you have a lifetime to make your marriage work.   Perhaps I might have a cake made in celebration of those who have made it work. Of dear friends who are speaking into me a kind of love that I did not have or know. The kind that fights with everything you have to then forty years later sit across from a girlfriend with dreamy eyes over having married a "good one."

Happy Anniversary to all my dear friends who  have married good ones.  You are always an example to me of commitment and love.  I know your stories and I know how you have worked out the hard stuff. Sometimes with grace and beauty and sometimes in messy ways, but you are celebrating and I celebrate with you.  Sheri, Stefani, Renee, Lauree, Ann, Kathy, Rita, Deborah, Amanda, Alyson, Alicia, Elliot & Sarah, and so many more.  I am cheering you all on to the next years and the rest of your lives with that good one you got.

And someday, maybe God will take me down this path again.