Your First Initial Feeling

Yesterday, the kids and I were putting away albums. Naturally, I kept putting some aside to play as we went. Savannah then handed me a box filled with old letters, and it made me pause.

My grandparents, Ron and Helen Thomson, were married in 1939.

My mother was born in 1940. She'll be 70 this week.

It's easy to forget that tales like this are actually a love story.

Nope, you didn't invent romance. You aren't the first girl to chase a toddler, plan BBQs, and wait for your best friend to come home.

 

My grandfather went to war and became part of the Greatest Generation. My mother was 5 at the time. He and my grandmother communicated through the only method available back then. Mail. Snail mail. I love how he scrawled "Free" where the postage traditionally goes.

 

They were married for 50 years. My grandfather passed away just after he walked me down the aisle. He didn't give me away, mind you; no man owned or does own me. But I had that privilege. 

My sister was married after he passed, and made that walk solo as a result. My newly widowed grandmother got a standing ovation at every gathering during the event. And she was married to him until the day she died.

My husband and I sometimes marvel that 20 years have gone by. Where did it go? My children should be toddlers, I should be a young wife with unreal expectations and dreams. How did my little blonde munchkin grow a beard?

We never leave or enter the house without a kiss and an "I love you."

Are we a great love story? I don't know. But as I placed those letters in a safe box for storage, I wondered how the children would reflect on our relationship. Would we inspire them to stick out the hard times? Would they remember that their vows aren't just words? 

For better or for worse is serious business. 

Then Savannah handed me Buckingham Nicks to put on the shelf.

And I put the song I walked down the aisle to 20 years ago on the turn table.

Do you always trust your first initial feeling?
Special knowledge holds truth, bears believing
I turned around
And the water was closing all around
Like a glove
Like the love...that had finally, finally found me
Then I knew
In the crystalline knowledge...of you
Drove me through the mountains
Through the crystal-like clear water fountain
Drove me like a magnet....to the sea

How the faces of love have changed
I'm turning the pages
And I have changed...oh, but you...you remain ageless
I turned around
And the water was closing all around
Like a glove
Like the love..that had finally, finaly found me
then I knew...in the crystalline knowledge of you
Drove me through the mountains
Through the crystal-like, clear water fountain
Drove me like a magnet...to the sea
To the sea....
To the sea....

I hear marriage is making a come back. To me, it's the thing that became the best part of my life.