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The Withering Year

   Yesterday, Bee and I celebrated 4 years of marriage. 4! *Insert wide-eyed emoji* To some, that is minutes, a blip on the radar, a drop in the ocean. To us, it's everything. Our whole beings are wrapped up in the very thought of the other,  and I wish it no other way. 
  This year, the traditional gifts are fruit and flowers. 2 wonderfully fragrant, and refreshing things. However, they are alive, and they die. They must be enjoyed. They must be used for the betterment of ourselves before they pass. 
  With the birth of our son, we have had so many new and different challenges. Last year, we became tough like leather so as to weather the never-ending storms that pelted our lives. This year...we find ourselves having to become more malleable and sweet. Fragrant even for our little to be embraced in. 
  This has been more difficult for me. I tend to get hard and forget that the most important things are needed to be felt with an open heart and a fluid mind. I tend to be more leather and less fruit and flowers. I see myself as more of a thistle than a delicate rose, or perhaps more of a jackfruit than a sweet pear.
  But, I am thankful I married a pear...a man who gives me sustenance and life. Who shows me what it means to be sweet and kind and treasured. But, I am also thankful I married a rose...a man who fills my life with sweet, fragrant beauty. Who shows me what it means to stand out and be admired.
  Happy 4 year anniversary, bee! May God sustain us and continue to create in us a delicacy that brings life to the other. I couldn't imagine doing this with any other than you. "To another 4? No, to another 50!" Cheers!!

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