One of the most beautiful things I've seen all summer was one day when this couple started washing their truck in the driveway. They had country music blaring from the truck, and they were dancing to the music - he in his work clothes and she in a walmart employee outfit. There was nothing beautiful about this scene or their story, except that love was spilling through every aspect and transforming the whole picture.
I'm getting married in a week, so I have spent considerable time this summer thinking about love & co. What does it really mean? Obviously romantic infatuation doesn't guarantee 50 years of marriage, or divorce rates wouldn't be so high. I'm guessing most divorcee's didn't go in thinking it was gonna be a short term arrangement. Although, this may be changing, as people are trading in "til death do us part" for "as long as our love endures". For real. In my "vow research" (who KNEW how much research went into wedding planning? Good thing pinterest and I get along), I even found that some couples are trading in "for richer or for poorer" and using "for richer or for richer". Now that is what I call a conditional marriage, and I would run from the altar!
So people get married, fall out of love, get divorced, the cycle repeats itself. What is this elusive long-term unconditional love that Hollywood promised? I distinctly recall spending three hours with a group of friends at age 14 trying to define love, and then deciding there really was no comprehensive, accurate definition. (Yes I was a nerd even then :)
I can't put love into words, but I know when I see it.
I saw it in my neighbors' faces when they were dancing in the gravel driveway. I see it in the old man who opens the door for his wife for the ten millionth time. I see it in Austin's face and how he treats me, and that's why I'm going to put on that white dress, say those vows I have so carefully written, and take the biggest heart risk I have ever taken in my life.
Because if I wait until I have fully defined love,
it may be too late for me to learn how to live it.
