“He lies stretched out in the dark and I lay long beside him, listen to him breathe, only sound there is. This is our love story, the one we’ve written with years and skin and the rings.
In his sleep, he finds my hand.
It’s the only one I’ve known….
My grandmother lived that kind of courage. The kind that made a vow and had the bravery to let it age. Wrinkled faithfulness of monogamy…
The exultation of monotony crowns the brave hearts, eyes that perpetually, perennially, look long to make the familiar new. She washed his underwear for fifty six years, and it was always enough and good.
Warm it falls on nape of my neck, his sleep breath, close. I press closer. The drama’s in the long faithfulness, and aged love is the heroic. God knows the passion of a covenant.”
Brave Affairs from Holy Experience
(Though you must follow the link out to read the rest, I would love to hear your thoughts on this marvelously probing post…oh how much, in our day of “Hollywood love” where wife wakes up with pretty breath and hair, have we lost this kind of deep, real marital fidelity.)
12 comments
Holy Experience sure is a beautiful site with much on which to ponder!
This is a beautiful post. My parents have been married for 42 years and it’s a beautiful thing to see. There marriage is one I hope my husband and I can emulate. We just passed 12 years and I can only say that our love and marriage keep growing stronger, but then neither of us see divorce as an option so we’re not looking for something “better”. We already have the “something better”! 🙂
I have loved this site for such a long time.The way in which she writes is so beautiful and so real.
I love that post. To me, real love is so much better than the movies. She expressed it so well
Beautiful post…when there are so many sad, broken marriage stories out there.
“aged love is the heroic”
How simple and profound and counter-cultural. And true.
It must be in the air. I was thinking long and hard about my own marriage yesterday and couldn’t help but write about it, and noticed other gals doing the same thing – it’s so huge seeing people who know the easy part is being willing to die for their mate. The hard part is being willing to give their life for the other. An important difference when you’re contemplating half a century.
I thought this post was beautiful. What a great encouragement to remember the thrill of the glance that we had at the beginning.
That is beautiful.
Holy Experience and Ann’s writing always moves me to tears and this did the same. We should, indeed, celebrate the woman who has faithfully washed her husband’s underwear for a lifetime :)! Marraige through the decades is something to celebrate…through sickness and health, hard times and happy ones. May we have eyes to see…
Beautiful post and such precious comments. My husband and I will celebrate our 5th anniversary in a little less than a month. Certainly not veterans yet, but I look to washing his undies, and his smelly socks for the rest of my days 🙂
Hi Kelly, I too loved this post! This so beautifully expresses my heart, our heart. You know I wrote about our marriage, the beauty of God’s love and grace in it, for our anniversary. What a gift marriage is from God, oh to get back to the way He intended it to be!
http://shelookethwell.blogspot.com/2009/11/amazing-gift-of-marriage.html
Love ya