December 14, 2010

Love.  Love has its own special magic.  When all else fails, you still have love.  There are some people who have not been lucky enough to truly experience the love you receive from your life partner.

I feel like I am one of the lucky ones.  I met Keith when I was only 19 years old.  Our first impression of one another was, let’s just say, not that great.  So it wasn’t love at first sight.  Personally, I have never experienced that but sometimes you just don’t need to.

The second time we met started our friendship.  At this point, still no sparks but that’s ok.  Friendships are special when you find the right people to have them with.

Most people today say they have friends but in reality they are more like acquaintances.  To me a true friend is someone who will not only be there when times are good but also when there seems to be nothing but the bad going on in your life.

So this is how Keith and I started off was as friends.  We started to hang out almost every day after work and on the weekends.  We were both in the Army and his barracks were across from mine.

For me, Keith was nothing of what my ideal “love you forever,” “never leave you” mate.  Besides the fact I had a boyfriend at the time.  But, relationships don’t always go as you think they will.  They can devastate you, make you a better person, and sometimes they simply surprise you.

After about a month of seeing each other almost every day and having a friendship with this guy so unexpected, somehow things change from wanting to be just friends to so much more.  I had always heard that one of the best ways to start a relationship was to be friends first.  I can say without a doubt that being friends with Keith first enabled me to be like Paul from the Bible and have the scales removed from my eyes to see the wonderful, loving man that stood before me whereas if I had never become friends first, I would never have given him a chance.

So what had turned from friendship into a relationship and then eventually to love, has brought us years of ups and downs.  We had only been together for 7 months when we got married.  We didn’t have a big ol’ fancy wedding.  Just the JP and 3 friends that came with us.  I was only 20 years old at the time with our lives ahead of us.  Who was to know what lie down that road.  If we had we probably would have never taken it.  But this is why God knows so much and we only live in the here and now.

Love is ultimately what holds the marriage together.  However, you also need trust and communication.  Love won’t keep a marriage together if one or both of these is missing.  However, love is what ultimately makes you fight for it.  Love is a very precious gift.

Keith and I have been through so many hard things that many marriages typically fall apart far.  Somehow, we make it through and ultimately it is our love for each other that brings us through.  So we have been lucky enough to experience the magic.  I hope you have too.