It is never easy to find a valentine that says what I want to say. So over the years I have ended up, more often than not, writing my own messages to the lover of my life. If I laid these valentines end-to-end, I would find a progression of seasons of the heart. This last December we celebrated 62 years of seasons. There has been (and still is) a lot of learning how to read the road signs and subtleties of loving. One only trusts the inner sanctum of the soul to another bit by bit as trust is built, and even then, only God knows the deeper hidden places that each of us harbors. Bill and I are alike in some ways; we are very different in others. But strong marriages are not built on unison, but on two-part harmony and the willingness to let, and help, the other grow toward what God made us to be. So, my tender love, here is my valentine.
MOUNTAINS AND SEA
You were all mountains;
I was sea.
You craved elevation;
I longed for vastness.
You needed to view things from above;
I wanted to survey the far horizons.
You preferred to get your perspective from looking down;
I got mine from gazing outward.
You were inspired by heights;
My muse was breadths and depths.
You needed to feel the altitude;
I needed to be dwarfed by expanses.
Together we have brought our perceptions
From separate frames of reference.
Yet together we have come to know—
Though we will never fully understand—
How wide, how long, how high and how deep
Love really is.
And so we are filled up,
Yes, filled up.
