Love and Marriage

Last Monday we watched as Jason Mesnick married Molly Malaney (yes, we, Jake and me!) on ABC in rainy California.  Jason and Molly  We even got to see Jason Castro sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow.  What a sweet song for Molly, or any bride, to hear while walking down the aisle!  It's a fairy-tale, and yes, I still believe in fairy-tales.


As I think about Jason and Molly (and while I don't know them, I think they're gonna do just fine), I also think about Jake's and my 7-month old marriage.  7 months today!  Every month we each say our current favorite thing about marriage.  The first couple months, Jake's answer was wearing his wedding ring.  Today, his answer was getting to be with someone who completely understands him.  My favorite thing today is that he knows what I'm thinking without me even saying it.  I have a great example:  last week we went to a prom party, and I had been thinking that we should have ordered corsages.  I never said anything about them, just had a couple thoughts in my head that they would be fun.  On Friday night, Jake showed up from work with a corsage made just for me to match my purple dress!  He knows what I want without me even saying a word.


Marriage - for some - is a really scary decision.  I think people are scared to commit.  For me, it just felt right.  Not necessarily the commitment part, but the Jake part.  We are complete opposites in so many ways, which is obvious to anyone who knows us.  But that's why we work - we keep each other challenged and thinking about the world in a new way.  I mean really - does this LOOK like something I would think was okay at a social function??

(My favorite thing the first couple months was that marriage feels like a sleepover every night.  Not hard to imagine with this fun-loving guy).


I love love.  It's true - the idea of it, the concept of being so enthralled in another person is something that my idealistic mind cannot get enough of.  I am a sucker for Dawson's Creek and The Notebook, and when Meredith created the house of candles for Derek, I sobbed like a baby.  Roll your eyes - go ahead!  True love is too scarce to ridicule it.  Try me.  


Anna Quindlen wrote a quote in Newsweek that I still hang onto.  She was referring to gay marriage, and I think she is spot on, but I'm not about to get all preachy - I just want you to read this quote and think about the loving relationships you sometimes roll your eyes at, or find fault in.  


"Here's what I don't understand: Is there so much love and commitment in the world that we can afford, as a society, to be contemptuous of some part of it?"


In a world where people hate one another, start fist fights in school, are at war in the Middle East, and call bomb threats in to school, we have GOT to hang onto love.  We have to recognize our loving role models (my parents, Jake's parents), and be happy for those who truly love one another.  Who in your life displays that kind of love?  I think maybe John Lennon was right.