protect it.

Today was my "Friday" and I had one of those weeks at work where when you get home after your last day you feel like you were hit by an 18-wheeler. But, to every cloud there is a silver lining hidden somewhere. Today's silver lining was a less than 5 minute conversation with one of the doctors. I have only been at my current job since April but we worked together at my first nursing job. He was asking how long I'd been here and that led to how I just got married in May. This is how it went:

Me:    I got married and was on vacation for three weeks.
Dr:    Congratulations. That is so wonderful. And I mean that sincerely.
Me:   Thank you so much!
Dr:    Marriage is the greatest thing. I've been married 31 years and two days today. My only advice....            protect it. There will be lots of things that try to tear it apart. Just protect it and it will be the greatest    thing you've ever done.

{this is a paraphrase, but you get it}

This may not sound very profound to you but it is BY FAR the best thing I've had someone say to me about getting married. Seriously. I have been amazed at the things people say. G and I were in Target one day and this woman saw us printing out our registry and decided to ask us if we went to pre-marital counseling. We said no. She then thought it would be a good idea to shake her head in disapproval and say "yikes, that's not good". Thank you stranger for basically saying our marriage will fail. How nice of you. And then there's the typical "jokes" about being tied down, stuck with a ball and chain, and all the other negative connotations you can make about being married. Thanks everyone.

I have always thought the love in a marriage is the strongest and best kind of {earthly} love because you CHOSE that person. Out of all the people on earth, you chose that person and they chose you to spend your life with. G chose me to love and share his... well, everything with and I don't take that lightly.

I know this may seem silly, but it was just such a refreshing statement from such an unexpected place and it just made my day. Protect it. And that's just what I plan to do. Until next time....

~A