9 Years Ago

Today is our 9th Wedding Anniversary. The days leading up to today have been full of reflection and humor. Every day this week we said to one another "This time 9 years ago we were..." A friend of ours got married last Saturday. I think this prompted the reflection. We attended the rehearsal Friday night and thought about our own wedding rehearsal, BBQ, and the frantic last minute details like trying to get the programs copied before the rehearsal. On Saturday we mentioned to each other that we never had to go through "that" again. At the reception afterwards we compared the dancing and wedding favors with what we chose for our own reception. It was a lot of fun. Tonight we are going to experience a fondue dinner. We have never had a whole dinner of fondue-y stuff.

All of you know that I am not really the sappy, cutsie, poetic type, but I do have a poem that really speaks to my view of our relationship:

Love

I love you,
Not for what you are,
But for what I am
When I am with you

I love you,
Not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what
You are making of me.

I love you
For the part of me
That you bring out;
I love you
For putting your hand
Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over
All the foolish, weak things
That you can't help
Dimly seeing there,
And for drawing out
Into the light
All the beautiful belongings
That no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find.

I love you because you
Are helping me to make
Of the lumber of my life
Not a tavern
But a temple;
Out of the works
Of my every day
Not a reproach
But a song.

I love you
Because you have done
More than any creed
Could have done
To make me good,
And more than any fate
Could have done
To make me happy.

You have done it
Without a touch,
Without a word
Without a sign.
You have done it
By being yourself.
Perhaps that is what
Being a friend means,
After all.

Roy Croft

Anyone have a tissue?