30 Days of Joy: Day 26-Love

There are all kinds of love that we experience in our lives.  It's always interesting to watch a movie or read a book about love.  It is usually a very idealized version of love: that first blush of romantic love that is at the very beginning of a relationship.  However, love is so much more.

As a mother, I know that one of the
strongest, most lasting types of love is love for a child.  It is fun to watch my older son as his love for his daughter grows and as he bonds with his newborn son.  The love that a parent has for a child is visceral.  It brings out the best and sometimes the worst in a person.  The overwhelming need to protect your child is a very physical, hard-wired reaction to perceived threats.  This is a good thing when they are very young but can get in the way as they become adults and you need to let go.  


I love my sons so very much.  I enjoy spending time with them and talking with them about their views of the world around us.  Their hugs mean so much.  This love is one that I will always have as an integral part of me, but I want to talk about the love that brought these young men into my life: the love of my life-my husband.

My husband and I first met when we were seventeen years old.  It was the first week of college.  I didn't particularly like this young man when I met him.  This was the era of hippies.  I was an overweight young girl who had never been away from home.  I had long red hair almost to my waist, contacts, and wore bell bottoms with love beads.  He had short, straight hair, dark glasses, plaid shirts, moccasins, and a red boy scout jacket.  He looked like he came from the Cleaver family!  (I look back at these pictures now and think about how cute he was!)  Given the fact that I felt the way that I did initially, I don't know how we ever hooked up, but somehow we became friends.  As time went by, our friendship grew and turned into young love.


He became my life.  I loved his boyish charm.  He was always telling jokes and was interested in everything.  He was the smartest person I had ever met.  Above all, I loved his kindness and sensitivity.  I wanted to spend every minute of my life with him.  There was so much to discover together: about ourselves and about the world we lived in.  However, we both knew that we had to explore the world as well as each other.  That was why we decided to marry while we were in college.  We knew that we would be together every night so we could explore our world during the day.  Taking this step began our journey as husband and wife.

In August, we will celebrate our 39th anniversary.  We have traveled many roads together, and our love has changed over the years.  He is still my very best friend.  He still tells jokes (which I often groan at while I chuckle inside because I have heard them before), and he is still so very smart.  He has taken care of me, has given me two wonderful children, and has always encouraged me and supported me in whatever I wanted to do.  My love for him is deeper than ever and built on trust and respect.  I am so glad that I chose to spend my life with him and he chose me.  I look forward to many joy filled years ahead as we explore our journey through life.

Have you found your joy today?