Tomorrow, unbelievably, I will celebrate twenty six years of marriage with my husband. A man I have known since I was eleven years old. We have survived the blur of our teen years, the knock of hard times, scraping rock bottom, hidden joys, tremendous blessings, and the parenting of two grown children.
Where did all that time go? The sand in our hourglass. The moments racing by at lightening speed. Just yesterday we were young together... no worries, we had our youth, our life sprawled before us and we were... invincable. I don't recall much of my world before he was in it. If I close my eyes, it all comes back... the girl I use to be... and the boy who shares my story....
Every once in a while I can even catch a glimpse of that boy I use to know... He hides behind a few handsome laugh lines and sexy gray hair... and occasionally behind a pair of very distinguished-looking reading glasses. He stares back at me sometimes in the moonlight from our bedroom window and across Sunday dinners. I've seen him in darkened theatres and on Christmas mornings.
In fleeting moments, that remind me of all we are and all we have become, I get to see images of the boy I once knew. In deep sleep, his face peaceful, he surfaces. In the tilt of his head while playing guitar, his mouth set in grim concentration, the boy appears. He arrives at odd hours, in the middle of snowball fights and Wii games, in the heat of summer afternoons, and over bonfires late at night.
I see him... that boy... and I remember.
He was wild and fearless... and experienced in all the right things. He made me laugh, and made me shiver, and taught me to play frisbee. We sang songs and drank beer and he taught me how to smoke. (Me... the girl in the shadows... holding a cigarette between trembling fingers.) We slow-danced with no music, his touch burned my skin, and he gathered all my secret dreams and knotted them with his own.
The boy easily stole my heart... and, now, so many lifetimes later, we celebrate.
For first loves and old friends, from high school to middle age and beyond, for all the promises we've kept, and for all the struggles... For choosing each other over everything else... for believing that together is our only way to stand and for making a lifetime of memories.
Here's to forever and always!
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Becky, this is such a beautiful piece of writing...really. I can see that young boy and girl, too. I remember them. Happy Anniversary, my friend!
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