"The willow submits to the wind and prospers until one day it is many willows—a wall against the wind. This is the willow's purpose." — Frank Herbert, Dune
Time, although a very evasive concept, is in each moment a gift. And most
often, I don't stop to look back at the road I have traveled on. Even more so,
the road Justin and I have travelled together. But today it is warranted. Today
marks 9 years as husband and wife, and 9 years of truly some amazing and
adverse moments. We have lost the most cherished and birthed the most loved all
the while interwoven with each other.
I will be the first to admit that our day to day appears to some: mundane. However, inside the ordinary he and I together have understood the profundity of love. It is brash and loud, but it is also cautious and quiet. "Love is a many splendored thing." It is the true basis of community, and I am proud of the community we have built.
The willow is the traditional 9-year anniversary gift. Now, who comes up with these things? I am not sure, but if I had to guess it is most likely the proverbial "they." But after contemplating the characteristics of the weeping willow... It. Just. Makes. Sense. In fact, so much so, that I believe the willow tree is the perfect representation of anyone who can understand weathering wedded bliss. How? Simple.
First: the roots. Massive, aggressive, and highly tenacious, these roots: the life seekers defy the odds of the rocky and precarious ground to seek out the most life-giving thing: water. They fight and often will destroy pipes that seek to impede their objective. So, it is with marriage. Our goal is to fight to bring life: to each other, to our children, to our family and friends, and lastly to our greater community. In a world that tends to ruin the beautiful, it is our job to seek to live out our objective and destroy the negative that would stand in our way.
Second: the bark. Soft, pliant, and scaly, this bark: the protector/healer, gives the underbelly a chance to survive the many dangers of its environment. However, pliant, the willow tree's bark was historically used for pain relief but also to weave and bind. A healer and a joiner, so it is with marriage. In the Catholic tradition, we believe that marriage is the purest and deepest representation of love for it not only heals the heart of loneliness, but it joins together in a bond that cannot be torn asunder.
Third: the branches. Long, supple, and whippy, these branches give the aesthetic of drama: flexing and swaying in the slightest breeze while supplying breathtaking shade in which to enjoy nature at its finest. Always bending and snapping back with precision, they provide gentle but firm assurance that there is security under their canopy. So, it is with marriage. To provide each other with the assurity of solemn protection and yet not to stifle the other with a choke hold of expectation or derision is the bending and snapping back of true relationship...true partnership.
This year's anniversary looks a little different. We are more tired. We struggle at times to get to even get to bed unscathed. We wrestle with patience in the evening hours as our children are cutting our last modicum of it to the quick. We have touched our mortality a bit more in thought. And yet, through it all, we still stand. We still seek life, and heal, and bend...all with the other woven into our soul.
I am honored to spend another year connected, most intimately, with the one who can calm me with a touch, anger me with a look, and entertain me with a word. To another 9 and beyond, bee. Thank you: for being with me and for standing with me beneath this weeping willow we call our life.
I will be the first to admit that our day to day appears to some: mundane. However, inside the ordinary he and I together have understood the profundity of love. It is brash and loud, but it is also cautious and quiet. "Love is a many splendored thing." It is the true basis of community, and I am proud of the community we have built.
The willow is the traditional 9-year anniversary gift. Now, who comes up with these things? I am not sure, but if I had to guess it is most likely the proverbial "they." But after contemplating the characteristics of the weeping willow... It. Just. Makes. Sense. In fact, so much so, that I believe the willow tree is the perfect representation of anyone who can understand weathering wedded bliss. How? Simple.
First: the roots. Massive, aggressive, and highly tenacious, these roots: the life seekers defy the odds of the rocky and precarious ground to seek out the most life-giving thing: water. They fight and often will destroy pipes that seek to impede their objective. So, it is with marriage. Our goal is to fight to bring life: to each other, to our children, to our family and friends, and lastly to our greater community. In a world that tends to ruin the beautiful, it is our job to seek to live out our objective and destroy the negative that would stand in our way.
Second: the bark. Soft, pliant, and scaly, this bark: the protector/healer, gives the underbelly a chance to survive the many dangers of its environment. However, pliant, the willow tree's bark was historically used for pain relief but also to weave and bind. A healer and a joiner, so it is with marriage. In the Catholic tradition, we believe that marriage is the purest and deepest representation of love for it not only heals the heart of loneliness, but it joins together in a bond that cannot be torn asunder.
Third: the branches. Long, supple, and whippy, these branches give the aesthetic of drama: flexing and swaying in the slightest breeze while supplying breathtaking shade in which to enjoy nature at its finest. Always bending and snapping back with precision, they provide gentle but firm assurance that there is security under their canopy. So, it is with marriage. To provide each other with the assurity of solemn protection and yet not to stifle the other with a choke hold of expectation or derision is the bending and snapping back of true relationship...true partnership.
This year's anniversary looks a little different. We are more tired. We struggle at times to get to even get to bed unscathed. We wrestle with patience in the evening hours as our children are cutting our last modicum of it to the quick. We have touched our mortality a bit more in thought. And yet, through it all, we still stand. We still seek life, and heal, and bend...all with the other woven into our soul.
I am honored to spend another year connected, most intimately, with the one who can calm me with a touch, anger me with a look, and entertain me with a word. To another 9 and beyond, bee. Thank you: for being with me and for standing with me beneath this weeping willow we call our life.
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