Two days ago I celebrated my 40th year of marriage. I call that pretty long-term. I can't imagine how I ended up with 40 years under my belt, because, honestly, I don't feel that old, and it doesn't seem that long ago that I was a young, know-nothing child bride. I was actually nearly 21 when I married (okay, now you all know how old I am) but in so many ways I grew up after marriage. It wasn't always pretty. I had my share of poutings, hurt feelings, and disappointment in what marriage was supposed to be like. My poor spouse was as patient as anyone could be as I worked through young adult-hood and first-time motherhood. As I look back, I feel pretty sorry for him! Knowing we had made commitments we weren't going to break helped through the tough times. Mostly it was all good, that's for sure, and the positive definitely outweighed the negative.
Being married to the same person for 40 years means you know that person--really, really know him. And, he really, really knows you. Having said that, though, we still have to make time to talk to each other about feelings and expectations. There are still gaps in our understanding. Why? Because human beings are complicated, and that differentiates us from the other mammals on the earth. Oh, and then there are hormones...
No comments:
Post a Comment