I once was a romantic. I dreamed of a man who would somehow weave his way into my heart with both charm and vitality. A man who would speak to my mind and whisper secrets of the beauty inside that he saw. Someone who would respect that I was strong and shelter me when I was not. Someone who would hold my hand through the storm and catch me if I fell. This man, in his unwavering way would peel away all the layers of what was a broken heart and diligently show me the mirror image of myself in his eyes as he looked on each tear I've shed and loved me more for having them.
It's a beautiful image this one.
The world for most of us has a tinge of jade to it. We've played with the marbles and cards and for some of us realize there is nothing more than this. We live, we work, we find some happiness we may even think we love... but this is all.
Then out of the blue, amid all the constant repetitions of "I dont need love", the firm belief that love would interrupt our "PLAN" or change us into some raving lunatic....It happens.
And suddenly the film of our life gets more colorful. Flowers smell divine instead of just nice. Problems are never insurmountable and handled with a smile. And even the most insurmountable... death can be thwarted by the power of this love.
I was heading down this road. I had lived alone successfully for a long enough time after my divorce that really I was ok. I made a few bad decisions in my heart but i was otherwise ok. I knew how to find joy and I could find whatever I wanted on MY terms. My mother was getting older but still somewhat spry. I was successful in my job (though I hated my job).
And in he walked...and my world turned upside down.
They say fate or divinity works in mysterious ways and sometimes the two intertwine. I think this was just such an occasion. I wasn't even prepared for it. And when the flowers all of a sudden bloomed brighter, richer, larger than before even then I wasn't aware. But when food suddenly tasted better and the energy of my youth came to me and said "Go ahead try that new thing it's ok" I started to realize something was different.
Just when I realized, and started to open up to this love unlike any love I'd ever felt my world crashed down all around me. My mother got worse very quickly and I got very sick nearly overnight ALL AT ONCE. I was literally treading water in a sea of sharks because the pier I had been standing on not only dropped out from under me, it just disappeared. And into the deep I fell.
My sickness was pretty bad. My mothers....worse. What began for both of us in October of last year continued into this year. In January we lost her while I was deep in the throes of my illness. This man who brought his heart to mine, stood by me the whole time. He became my beacon, my anchor, my rock. He was there during chemo, during hospital stays where we weren't sure I was going to make it, during funerals, emotional upheavals, more bad news, staggering weight gain from meds, worsening states of health from the disease... He built a pier of love right under me while I flailed about in fear and reassured me that no matter what, it would be ok. I mean I could go on and on but now I'm so filled with emotion that I can't see the screen.
The point of all of these words, is he stayed. He came and brought my world to a completely different place. He took fear and panic and gently massaged them away with love and helped me to even laugh on occasion. And when others like my family, my friends, pretty much everyone, left me; he stayed. He held my hand. He held my heart. He wiped my tears away and shared in them too. He cradled my soul when it fractured under the weight of it all. And when I could have died, he held me close to his heart and simply told me how much he loved me. He shook his fist in the face of all of this and somehow perhaps through sheer will alone, helped me survive.
So many years ago 1993 to be exact, I said I do to someone. I don't regret saying I do, or subsequently saying I don't 10 years later. Because in the very thin wisps of the threads created by divinity that bind us in life; those which began so long ago is where this love started. He didn't know it then, we didn't know it then; but now on that same day 23 years later in a place only a handful share with us; we created our own memory and came home. And on that same day this year we share in that memory again this time physically in our home now, together.
I'm no expert on love. I've lost more than I've loved and I've been deeply hurt; the scars of which sometimes still ache. But for the first time in my life starting a few years ago now if I'm being honest; I can finally say I really do know what love is. Love is unconditional (yes it really is), love is transparent (always), love is making someone smile, and when life is difficult being sure to love with all your heart even and absolutely always in the face of adversity.
I know this writing isn't my best but if there is only one thing you get from reading it.... It is that I love you with every cell of my being, with my soul, with every thought, every smile and every tear. I love you. Lets plant our roses and walk our path together because that's our home.
Our dance last year in the Golden Touch Theater production "Reflections" a piece so dear to my heart.
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