Until Death Do Us Part

With my little brother's wedding coming up in a little while (7 days, eeek!) and a bunch of marriages I know of breaking up, I have been thinking a lot about what keeps Jeff and I together.  Why do we have a strong marriage?  Are we just lucky?  Am I declaring victory too soon?  I don't know, but I do know that we made a commitment on that May afternoon and we both knew it was for life.  Jeff has seen me at my best and defiantly at my worst, but he still loves me.  We moved away from family as soon as we were married so we always had to lean on each other and be each other's best friend.  We couldn't turn to anyone else when we had issues, we had to work it out.  It was kind of us against the world.  We have certainly had our ups and downs, but that is the cyclical nature of relationships. 

Some of the things that have helped us stay together is how we try to hard to have dinner together without any distractions every night we can.  And living in the middle of no where has helped.  We always have long drives to get to town and we spend a lot of that time talking about life.  Also we keep trying to do and say sweet things for each other.  At the mall on Wednesday Jeff pointed to the poster in Victoria Secret and said to Jason "look it's a picture of Mommy!"  my heart melted!  And I know what his favorite meals are and make them as often as I can. Which is why we have half an apple pie in the kitchen right now.

The most important thing that keeps us in love is the fact that there aren't 2 people in our marriage, there are 3.  We have made God a part of our marriage.   There is a difference between the married parties having faith and actively making God a part of your marriage and we try our very best to be the second way.   That is not to say that if you put yourself in a compromising situation God will swoop in and save you, not that he won't, but you have to be responsible for yourself.  We each have to do our part and have faith that God will do his.  Paraphrasing Lon Solomon, if you are on a diet, what are you doing in the buffet line!  God does help make sure that an aggressive super model with a crush on Jeff doesn't work in his office and he also helps us forgive each other for the human errors we make.  This is not to say you couldn't have a good marriage without God, but it sure makes it a lot more work.

So with Thanksgiving coming up I remember the most important thing that I am thankful for and although I love my adorable little boy, it isn't him.  It is the wonderful marriage that Jeff and I have.  I know I am so lucky to have found him.