Day 25: Romantic Notions
The girl saved her pennies and bought herself a locket. I'm guessing that this is a pretty standard jewelry choice for girls her age. I thought she would have me print out pictures of her friends or cousins to put in there but instead she pulled out the photo album of our wedding pictures and chose pictures of me and the man. I sat down on the floor next to her and answered her questions as she examined each wedding picture. She wanted me to tell her about that day and what it was like for our families. While I was talking to her about it I realized that it really does feel like yesterday to me in some ways. When I think about the man I feel like I am 22 years old again...and still more certain about him than I am about anything else in my life. He is a good and earnest man and we have a good and earnest love. It sounds so puritanical when I type it out...I really don't mean it that way. I only mean to say that it's a simple and steadfast relationship that we have. We work together daily, and we work in a hectic and complicated environment, so our work life can get muddy and stressful but when all is said and done we always come back to the base that we have. The more the girl and I talked about it today, the more I realized how much she is absorbing about our relationship. The funny thing is she doesn't see us together for very long periods of time. A couple of hours a night is all. She has kind of a fairy tale sense about our marriage, and although the current logistics of our work keep us away from each other more than I would like...it still does feel a little fairy tale-ish to me. I want both of my children to grow up with a realistic impression of human relationships, and I don't want to mislead them about how complicated they can be...but at the same time I feel like there has to be a way to let them know that romantic ideas aren't a bunch of hooey and that a simple and loving relationship is not only possible but what I want so deeply for them to have for themselves when they get older. I love that the girl seems intrigued by our story lately, it makes me feel nostalgic and so blessed in the retelling of it.