Twenty Years Later

It's a question most newlyweds ask themselves, half laughing, half dreaming after the vows are said and the bind is legal; "I wonder where we'll be in 20 years?" Asking and never imagining the twisty turny journey of the years ahead where the brave hold fast and a deeper love transcends expectation.

Hubby and I will spend our 20th anniversary in San Antonio, bringing our only child to her college orientation.  Texas would've been my last guess on my wedding day. Just a year prior to our wedding we had fled the great state of Texas after a failed grad school adjustment at Baylor.  It's a hard transition at 21, from liberal Boston to ultra conservative Waco back in the day of the Branch Davidians.  But here we are.  Yankees turned Texans.  With a Southern child who says y'all, loves her guns and cowboy boots. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I've never not known my husband.  We grew up across the street from each other, went to the same high school, went to proms together but not as each other's date.  We went on double dates together, but not as each other's date- even though we'd be playing footsie with each other under the table.  It wasn't until one June when we were both home from college that we started seeing each other as more than just friends.  We figured it was just a summer thing, an odd curiosity, an unusual blip in our life long friendship.  But once September arrived and we returned to our separate colleges, we simply couldn't shake the idea of "us".  Four years later, we married.  My mother swore it would never last.

Twenty years seems like forever when you are 23, but as we all know it zips by with bullet speed and suddenly what was once the fodder of late night discussions is now all written in a shared history.  Looking back, it was twenty years of magical memories and grueling challenges. No matter what we faced, we always stood by each other, defended one another, and put our selfishness aside to be certain we stayed strong as parents, friends, and partners.  Marriage is hard work but yields great reward. And so on our 20th anniversary, as we sip margaritas on the River Walk, I can't help but ask my Hubby, "I wonder where we'll be in 20 years?"

 

LOVE & SOUL MATES

In To The Mystic

 I wasn't going to write on this topic- even though it was on my mind all last night.  It's not my story to write but at times I feel like something much greater than me guides my words. 

 

When I fired up Pandora this morning for my usual writing background tunes, Van Morrison was playing.  Odd.  I have Pandora set to the Lumineers.  I've never heard Van Morrison on all my mornings of listening to Pandora's repetitive rotation.  Maybe I just haven't been paying attention.  But on this particular morning I feel it was more of a nudge from Heaven, a spiritual cue that what most people find easier to doubt might possibly be real.

 

Over the phone last night, wine glasses in hand, my dearest friend Martha and I raised a toast to her one true love, Mark.  Yesterday was his birthday. Martha remarked how strange it was to hear a Van Morisson song playing in the grocery store as she bought him a birthday balloon.  Mark loved Van Morisson almost as much as he loved his garden! In that moment, I could hear his boisterous laughter bellowing out, "Sabadooooooooooo Gigante!!!" for no reason whatsoever as he passed through the house with a box of fudgicles and new veggie plants in his hands.   Larger than life itself, Mark's soul seemed to be right there toasting alongside us. Sadly, Mark is no longer with us on earth.  But when someone lives so fully, so richly, with such genuine love for his family, that type of soul leaves us all empty as we have to move forward knowing his earthly journey is complete.

 

Martha and Mark have been my constant role models.  As parents, as spouses, as friends, these two are soul mates and every step they made together reflected that. I am married to Martha's youngest brother, Kevin, perhaps the most difficult sibling of the bunch! But watching Mark and Martha, I learned marriage means taking the good with the bad and what matters most is family.  Petty squabbles subside into a fuller love and those pesky traits are usually what we miss most when they are gone.  Kevin travels a lot and I miss his sarcastic sense of humor, his mild OCD pantry organization methods, and clop clop clop of his cowboy boots on wooden floors.  But I know he is coming home.  I ache for my friend's heart knowing she does not have that same luxury.

 

So with Van Morisson playing I smile, add the Van Morisson station and listen away.  Perhaps it's just the way every song was written in the 70's? Could Van Morisson, James Taylor, the Rolling Stones, and Otis Redding be sending a sign?  Should I seek professional help? Maybe I read too much into random details. But just maybe the universe weaves a pattern to let us know our loved ones do see us on earth.  Even if it's just me needing a sign for my friend; It is what it is.  I tried to not write this post, but for unknown reasons, I felt compelled. And with every song that played out as I typed- it just seemed  a note someone above wanted to pass on. I am not one to ignore my instincts- so here is what I heard in between my ticka-typing today.

 

Just like way back in the days of old

Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic.

I've been loving you too long to stop now.

You just gotta see me through another day........

Knock, knock knocking on Heaven's door. 

Faith has been broken, tears must be cried,

Let's do some living after we die.

Just like way back in the days of old
And together we will float into the mystic.

 

LOVE  &  DR. MARK