May I Have This Dance

The clinking of the glasses echo through the room. The rolls of the eyes are clearly made for all to see but the kiss, the kiss that was forced by everyone else surrounding them was pure and real. Love exists between these two beautiful souls. A love that could not be denied, even with the roll of the eye. 

As the celebration carried on the stars of the show decide that enough attention was poured onto them and it was time to reflect it back to those who mattered most in their lives. The parents who nurtured these two hearts to adult hood and helped shape them into the people who stand before us. The grandparents whose shoulders were a safe haven to cry on with no judgement living amongst this relationship. On and on, one by one, you could pinpoint the significance every heart in the room had on this newly formed family. I watched as the newest bride and groom danced their first dance. Once the song concluded an announcement was made that all married couples must report to the dance floor for a very special tribute.

After a little coaxing, everyone found their way to the dance floor. Music began and the dancing started. A few moments passed and  a request was made that everyone married for less than a year to please exit the floor and find their way back to their tables. The music continued to play and slowly with each new request fewer couples remained. Finally one couple was left standing, holding on to each other and gazing into each others eyes.

They no longer resembled the two young kids who were married at eighteen. Time had marched on and aging crept its way across their young faces. Bodies were war torn from long ago battles and children blessed their lives but took a toll on their aging hearts. The fluidity of the boxtrot could not be found and a gentle sway was witnessed as they each secretly held the other up. Even after all the years had passed the faces they gazed upon were the most familiar of all. Every wrinkle that found its home found a place in the others heart. Every part of them had been detailed in a fine map tucked in the recess of their memories.. Here is where they were and here is where they would always be. They live in a place where age does not touch their love. It is cemented into their history and has been the foundation for the story of their lives.

Recently married I am infant in the marriage world. We continue to live in the newlywed bliss of everyday life. Fights erupt but the comfort of knowing the other will always be there has given way to new forms of communication. Everyday is a learning experience and also contains some of the most rewarding of moments. It is a comradery of the two of us against the world which results in a feeling of being larger than life itself. In the middle of everyday life we searched and found a life long companion that never limits the amount of love given in a single moment. Lupus and infertility does not hold back this love but nurtures it and teaches us personal humility, grace and wonder in the simple moments of life.

I have taken away in the brief time I have been married a knowledge that I always knew but never experienced. Love is an ever changing horizon we each look out upon in our lives. Clouds roll in, storms drop rain and as the sun peaks back out another layer has been washed away and exposed leaving a new layer of love to be nourished. This new layer is enriched by its surrounding environment and grows wild under the sun. Time passes and layer after layer is added and a true love story is created. One that is carried on for generations to come and sets an example for all of us to dance to.

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