Dreams...don't have an expiration date

                                                Because of YOU...I didn't give up~

At  3:11 am this morning, my husband rolls over and climbs out of bed.  Into the shower he heads, after banking the wood in the stove, and checking to see just how cold it is outside.  Only -17, this morning...nothing like our friends in the mid west are facing.

I am all about, getting up and seeing my man off.

About 38 years ago, as a newly wed, I was sitting in a meeting somewhere...and the guest speaker is focusing on family relations, and how to get better at what you want to be real GOOD at.  I was a new wife, I wanted to know how to be a great woman and keep that man of mine around.  Yes, we had taken on the vows of marriage, and married in the temple, which to us as Latter-day-saints is for time and all eternity...but eternity is a longggggg time, and I want to be happy... I was not to young to know, that a promise, is indeed a promise, but anything of value takes a whole lot of work.   I have seen to many failed marriages go by the wayside in the minor distractions, that one partner...or both, allowed to grow into major problems...that grew into something so hurtful it became insurmountable.

You are going to laugh out loud, at what I am going to share...but the only thing that stuck with me, from the whole conference...wasn't what to fix him to eat, how to become a contortionist in having great sex...what perfume to wear...how often to wash my mane of hair...what time to have sex...how clean to keep our home...how many children to have...who to visit for the holidays...where to have sex, or how often.  It wasn't about what our conversations should or should not cover...or how to discipline our children, it wasn't about setting goals, creating a budget and when to plan on buying our first house.  It wasn't even about whether we should live in the city or the country...when to go to the movies or stay home and read a good book. All of these subjects and many more were covered, in one way or another..but this what stuck in my mind:   IF YOU WANT TO ADD 10 YEARS OF LIFE TO THAT MAN OF YOURS...KISS HIM GOODBYE, AT THE DOOR WHEN HE LEAVES TO GO TO WORK, and promise him you will be so glad when he comes home.

I am gullible for happy...always have been.  Always, look for the silver lining in every situation,  in all honesty...happy, happy, happy is a whole lot of work, blood sweat and tears.  I am not afraid of work...if the dream is BIG ENOUGH, the facts just don't count!   Define happy.

Happy is the journey.  When I'm wiser and older?   What if in finding yourself, you didn't know you were really lost?   Give up...give in...or give IT all you've got!

So, here we are, growing into that eternity thing.  Wiser and older, "war weary" at times...but still living in HAPPY, and kissing him goodbye at the door, extracting a promise from him to return to me, and letting him know, I will be so glad when he returns home.

I will live to see if this simple little thing can add 10 years to his life.