Today I was in the neighborhood of an old friend, so I stopped by his office to catch up on old times. We laughed, teased, reminisced, and shed tears as we visited. I hadn’t seen him in some time and hadn’t heard the news of his wife, who had recently undergone heart surgery.
They have lived amazing life together. This has been through thick and thin as they grew together from their youth, raising a great family. He had just celebrated a birthday, and while we spoke, his children called wishing him well. As we talked, I could feel deeply his love of family, particularly his wife, with his emotion concentrated on her. I could sense how their relationship intensified as she tested death’s door.
Perhaps as a stress relief, he gave me details of her surgery; every detail was filled with passion, as you can imagine. His description gave evidence of gratitude for modern medicine, but clearly, I could see he felt the pain of witnessing his soul mate going through this procedure. She has come through it with the expected success but is still in recovery.
I left his office, got into my car, and immediately thought of my wife and our extraordinary life. While reflecting and overflowing with gratitude, an old Journey song came on the radio. The song was “Faithfully.”
My intensity increased as I turned the music up with Steve Perry singing, “I’m forever yours, faithfully.” http://bit.ly/journeyfaithfully
My life with Kim has been AMAZING!!! She is my strength, courage, motivation, mother of our children, and a person who has made my life worthwhile.
From a man incapable of giving back all my beautiful spouse has given me; know what I can give is that “I am forever yours, faithfully.”
Jaren
Jaren,
I came across your comments on the time article “Who Needs Marriage? A Changing Institution” and could not resist clicking on the link to your blog. Something I never do by the way. I could not help but get goose bumps as I read your words. And then if that wasn’t enough you mentioned my favorite Journey song and evoked the feelings that those lyrics brought to me each time I hear it. It brought tears to my eyes thinking how blessed I am to have found love again at 46. After 16 years of enduring a marriage full of verbal and emotional abuse I finally gathered enough courage and strength to leave it. That strength and my faith brought to a women who is not only soul mate but my best friend. It’s great to be in love. Faith truly brings all good things.
Thank you sharing your comments.
Skip
Charlottesville, VA