Marriage Mondays: Support Systems

One of the things I love about being in a committed relationship is that I have someone to help me carry the burden of living. Let's face it, sometimes life sucks. But having someone to help you through tough times is what gets us through to the other side.

This past weekend I had to endure some tough stuff emotionally. I'm a pretty open person and I share a lot here, but I don't think I'll be sharing this. The point is, however that throughout the weekend, A.P. was really, really great. And it made me love him more. Several times throughout the weekend I told him that I was so, so happy I was married to him and that he was there with me because I didn't think I was strong enough to have endured that kind of emotional pain on my own. And that's the beauty of marriage. You have a built-in support system.

This wasn't the first time A.P. has dazzled me with his supportiveness. Last year, after I was laid off, he was amazing, too. The thing is, for 25 years it was my responsibility to pick myself up when I fell. My mother and father didn't raise a dependent, sad, little wallower (maybe this is why she thought I wasn't the marrying kind, eh?). I remember when we were in Tennessee on our engagement trip (as it is now known), we went hiking...up a mountain. I hate hiking. Mountain hiking only makes the whole thing worse. Plus, it had just rained. At one point, I slipped in the mud and fell. I tried like hell to pull myself up, grabbing onto (I shit you not) a root sticking out of the ground to try to get myself up, only to fall again. A.P. had to beg me to let him help me up. He never really says my name (it's kind of a weird joke that we have...I think it's so strange when he says my name. It catches me off guard *every* time.), but this time he shouted my name, instructing me to take his hand. I secretly hated that I had to. But each time I have to let him help me, I let him in my heart a little and I get a little...softer, for lack of a better word. In the past, it was harder for me to recognize his support as something I wanted, but a year and a half into our marriage, it gets easier and easier for me to let him in more and more.

It's stuff like this that makes me again fall back to the words that define our relationship: Je t'aime plus qu'hier moins que demain (I love you even more than yesterday and much less than tomorrow).

Did it take time for you to let your significant other in? If so, was it hard for you?

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One Year Ago...

One year ago this past Sunday, we did this:

And what a year it has been since. I will share how we spent our day tomorrow. But for today, I'll leave you with a portion of the poem, "The Eternal Song," that we had our good friend, the half-breed Swede, read at our wedding. My former French teacher translated it for us from Rosemonde Gerard's original French. I find that it holds more and more true as time goes on, and that my love for A.P. really does swell each day. He really is my 80 year old boyfriend for life.

Since I love you more today--
And tomorrow even more than yesterday--
When we're no longer young,
What difference will our wrinkled faces make?
My love will surely be more serious, more serene.
Know that every day builds memories,
Mine will be yours, yours mine.
These shared memories will tightly bind,
Our hearts forevermore entwine.
Yes, we will age and weaken through the years,
But each day I'll press your hand more dearly
So you will know how my love grows, sincerely--
Today even more than yesterday and much less than tomorrow.

To view more pictures of our wedding, look here.

All photos were taken by our photographer, Theresa Scarbrough.