journey thought

I was visiting with a co-worker a day or two ago. She and her husband had just celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary. I shared with her that Barry and I just had our 19th. As we were reminiscing and sharing how grateful we are for our husbands, the inevitible question arose. At least I hear this a lot: Would you do it all again? Of course. And yet ... there are good times and bad times, easy periods and extremely difficult periods, children planned and unplanned ... and the thougts of what would my life (or his life) have been like had we not married ... the list goes on. Eventually (and it really didn't take long!), we decided that yes, we would do it over again.

Then we began to wonder ... perhaps, if indeed we were given the chances and choices to begin our marriages again, could it be a tad bit conditional, sort of like how those elevators are set up in really tall buildings? Some often skip the 13th floor due to superstition, bad feelings, rumors of ghosts, etc. Could we just skip a year or two here and there (my preferred years would be 2 and 8 please, and maybe a couple of months of year 3, with a few weeks in year 12 - you get the idea) and still get to the same destination?

Humorous, yes. But, of course, impossible ... because the years 2 and 8 of our union (pick your own years to fill in here) are important and necessary sight-seeing detours on our journey. Sure, without them we probably would have arrived at the same place ... not nearly as well-versed in relating to each other, nowhere close to being as skilled as we are at being sacrificial and making peace (although I could use some more training in these areas), not having learned how to fully appreciate the scenery along the way ... really as two different people in a different marriage altogether.

So ... yes, I would, in fact, do it over again ... ALL over again.

Submitted by a proud wife, a strong supporter, and a faithful friend to my husband.