A Love Story

Him...
I know I told all of you I would be posting about gardening and recipes.  However, we are in the midst of weeks of rain and little has been done to the garden as of late.  While looking out at this infernal rain my husband promised deeper beds, trellises, a greenhouse, and a new trough. He is clearly insane because there is NO WAY that can happen with his work schedule. However, this promise was made out of love.  Today I am going to write about this love. I think it's important I finally write about this.

Here he is whittling. 

When we met...

There was a time in my life when I was frightened of even my own shadow.  We met during this time.  I could roar at the top of my lungs but inside I was more kitten than cat.  He was young. We were young.  Even in that time he saw past all of insecurities and straight into the heart of me.  I refused to love him back.  It is a hard truth.  In all honesty, I felt as if I was not worthy of being loved.  I had been taught that...every day of my life.  He chose to undo this teaching and loved me in spite of myself.

Walking at the park.

The choice to love...

It was not an easy choice.  He had to ask 3 times before I would say yes to marrying him.  When I tell the story to people who ask about it, I say it in a way that makes others laugh. He recently told me that although it is good to hear laughter, to him it is not funny.  I hurt him with each no, but he persisted and now I am writing my true feelings. You see I had to choose that I was worth that yes he was so longing for. Every no meant that I could live in my fear and feelings of worthlessness. It was, in fact, in a brave moment that he threw caution to the wind to ask me again that third time.  So I said yes.  You should have seen the look on his face! So here we are today. As he says it, "Two and half decades later my love and I love you more each and every day."  This is always said with a loving smile and a gentle touch to my cheek.

Holding a new arrival to our family.

Why in the world are you writing this?

I am writing this to ask all of you to choose to love one another.  It may seem silly to you after reading all of this. However, I had to choose to love.  I also had to ask for help later in our marriage to recover from my past.  I am still recovering...in the name of honesty. But that might be another blog post.  For now, I am asking anyone reading this to stop for even just a moment, breathe deep, and in your heart choose to love.   I have found it brings about kindness, compassion, care, and SO much more.  He chose to love me. I chose to love him.  That is our love story.  That is the bottom line.

Athena