Hearts

"When we first fall in love, the powerful force of possibility grips us and pulls us along deeper and deeper into the days. When first shaping the bonds of love, we look at each other with incredible freshness and appreciate who is before us...... Inevitably, though, as we grow intimate, we begin to lose sight of each other, and there comes a day when we no longer see our loved one as others do. Now we see inside of their face, up close. Now we swim in each other like a mysterious river in which we sometimes see ourselves, and sometimes soothe ourselves, and sometimes drink of each other. Eventually, we climb into the painting we once stared at with our pounding heart, and from inside the painting, we can forget there ever was such a painting. This is how we can take each other for granted. This is how we can imagine that the magic is gone. But, as the reward for being drawn to the sea is to swim with the waves, the reward for being drawn into the depth of another is to feel each other rather than to see each other." from The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo.
We spent time this morning just holding each other.  We do that a lot, not just on Valentine's Day.  A closeness that is so intimate.  It isn't the fevered pitch of the first time that we touched each other.  It is comfort, passion, compassion, joy and acceptance all rolled together.  I call the feeling love. 

I surely have had those moments when I didn't want to see or feel the person that I love.  Feelings may have ebbs and flows.  Yet love remained constant,  strongly pulling us to each other.  Even after arguments, love meant that we could forgive, let go of what happened yesterday and move to where we are today.  I know that I do see and feel the person I love. I don't have pretend fantasies any more. We know each other so well.  I also cannot imagine life without her.  I'm grateful for sharing the days that we've had together.  I don't think that it was by accident that we were attracted to each other.

I see all those things.  I see us progressing in years.  I see us growing old together.  And I love what I see.  She will be my love today as she has been since we first met.