How do I love thee?
Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right:
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right:
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
My beloved and I will celebrate thirteen years of marriage at the end of this week. After my in-laws' 40th anniversary last month I got to thinking about our own marriage: how it started, where we've been (and could have gone, but didn't), our dreams, our challenges. Today I thought I'd just share the first ten things I fell in love with about him.
- I loved his guts. I was working at the McDonald's near campus, when he came in with several friends. A moment after they ordered and sat down, he came back and asked for another bun. I felt obligated to mock him to the entire crew as well as the other customer in line, asking him if he'd like that toasted or fresh. A few moments later, he was back asking for ketchup (which was right behind him). Again, he came back for a refill. And finally, he stopped by a final time on his way out to order food for a classmate back at the dorm. Come to find out later he had used every trick at his disposal to come up with excuses to come back and chat with the girl at the front counter again.
- I loved that he looked down on me. At 5'10" I had only one physical trait on my "wish" list, to meet someone at least 6'3". God in his humorous way of giving me "above and beyond all I could ask or imagine" sent me someone 6'8".
- I loved that when I first looked into his eyes on our first date, I fell in.
- I loved that he pursued me. Nobody had ever really seen me for me before. I was always trying to present myself in a way that would catch someone's eye, but in this case all I had done was make fun of him. Apparently this intrigued him enough to ask a mutual friend about me, whose response was, "Oh, stay away from her. She's a little weird." And this only served to increase his interest in pursuing me.
- I loved that he laughed at my personal inside jokes. I am forever cracking myself up commenting on the humor I see around me, but the soundtrack is just for me. If anyone else gets it that's great, but I am my own greatest audience. Once he started hanging around I'd make my usual under-the-breath cracks and suddenly there would be two of us laughing.
- I loved that he could laugh at himself. Can't think of a moment from back then, but tonight as we are sitting together looking at slides from the past, he is laughing hysterically at a photo we just found of him in his sweaty, farm boy glory. Others try to hide their terrible photos, he revels in them because they are worthy of inspiring laughter. And his number one value is fun.
- I loved that as we would walk around campus together, he would greet by name every one of those people that linger around the social fringes, recognized by anyone but known by only a few. He took the time to know them all.
- I loved that he told me up front he was not looking for a girlfriend, but he was praying for a friend. I had been praying the exact same prayer for a best friend. Being known is such a strong human need, isn't it?
- I loved that he promised not to give me flowers. In previous relationships he had had to send flowers to girlfriends to make up for mistakes, and to him flowers had a negative connotation. Instead of secretly hating himself every time I asked for them, he simply told me up front that he wanted to wait until he could give them to me by his own free choice. Communication does wonders for an awkward situation. I was totally fine with it, and by our first married Valentine's Day I was receiving freely given flowers.
- I loved his explanation of why we should get married: "Ninety percent of the world, we agree on. And the other ten percent is stuff I have no opinion on, that doesn't matter." If you know this dear opinionated man at all, you may laugh out loud now. Perhaps the fact that it sounded plausible at the time might indicate we were talking about marriage a little too soon (two weeks after we met). Lucky for me, it all turned out okay in the end!
This post is the first in a series that continues all week. Click here to go directly to the next post in the series.
Hi Krista,
ReplyDeleteBlog hopping. Saw the name of your blog and, as a fellow-Texan, had to hop on over. So glad I did. Loved your top ten list. So sweet. Congrats on your upcoming 13 years. The Man and I celebrated #30last night! The rewards of staying together, no matter what, are so rich at this stage in life.
Nice to meet another Texas blogger.
~ Dayle
Happy Anniversary, my dear friend. As someone who got to hear you crack up about this crazy man a few hours after you met him, and then watch you fall in love with him before we'd even graduated, it's been great fun to watch your 13-year journey together. Here's to another 50 years of Wild Ride Together! Love you!
ReplyDeleteAww Krista,
ReplyDeleteYou inspire me! I am so going to miss MOPS this year and a big reason is because I won't get to visit with you!