Saturday, September 27, 2014

"Love is when the other person's happiness is more important than your own." -H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

I haven't posted in a while, but today I feel very compelled to write about something I usually only use as a theme. Today I want to write about Love. The focal point of this post is love; gooey, dripping with PDA, showing kindness and compassion to one another, Love.

Last week, Shaun and I went on a trip to my beautiful home state of Washington. As we started to land into Seattle, the grey backdrop and scattered Evergreens made my heart skip a beat. No matter where I go or where I end up, western Washington will always give me goosebumps, western Washington will always be home.

Sarah and Lucas drove us up to Bellingham and we got to catch up, laugh, sing and joke around as if time and distance had never separated us. When getting to our cabin in Bellingham, I was greeted by a huge hug from Kelsey. I could feel her love radiating and transferring over to me. No matter where I go or where I end up, these people and their hugs will always make me tear up. Throughout our weekend together I was reminded of how much love we gave/give each other as friends. I was reminded of the years that these people were my family, my anchors through my personal twists and turns and I was thankful. It was such a great opportunity for Shaun to see and meet these amazing people.

At the wedding, I was reminded of how the two getting hitched had to work at their relationship. I remembered how patient and kind they had to be throughout their arguments, disagreements, stubbornness and grumpiness. They had to depend on their love to work through their twists and turns and had to truly work at their relationship. There are so many couples in my life that make relationships look easy, clean, uncomplicated and it was refreshing to be reminded that just because your relationship is messy, sometimes difficult and a little complicated, doesn't mean it isn't chalk full of love.

It made me think of my relationship with Shaun (this is where Shaun is thinking, "what are you about to say to the entire cyber world about our relationship?"). As a respect to our privacy, I will only say this; we had to fight and work for our relationship. At times we cried, we laughed, we sang, we were silent, we needed a moment alone, it was messy, it was difficult, it was complicated, but our love carried us through. And now, although we still have our grumpy times, I believe our relationship is stronger and deeper than it ever was. We look to each other's happiness before our own.

In two weeks, things will become more challenging and complicated. Shaun is getting deployed. My heart aches even writing those words. I find myself praying to God to 1) keep him safe and 2) show me how to be a strong support for him. I am struggling because I am thinking of how sad holidays will be and how lonely he might become and it casts a fog over me supporting him and being proud of him. So I am praying for the ability to better encourage and support him (please pray for us too).

At the end of our Seattle trip, we met up with my parents and brother. It was so amazing to see how quickly they all gelled together without force or awkwardness; it worked. My dad and brother pulled me aside and said, "it is so neat to see someone take care of you and even neater to see you so happy." Which, when I think about the core of our relationship, that's all I want: love, happiness and taking care of each other. It was such a gift to have us all together, especially considering where Shaun will be in two weeks, and an even greater gift to share my family's love with him.

I am so thankful for each of my friends and family members who made our trip not only memorable and full of happiness; but dripping with gooey, beautiful, emotional, PDA filled, love. Thank you for that gift and continue to pray for us throughout the coming weeks. I love you all.

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