Written on a card and sent with a big bunch of 12 beautiful red roses, delivered to my work. So unexpected and so welcome. The sign I needed that things would be OK, that we would work out.
This was the red jumper that prompted that comment! I love red, I wear it often. I would go as far as to say it is my trademark colour. So what is the story behind the comment? Well this is the short version (without the gory details, sorry about that). I share lots here but nothing personal about my dh. Some things are sacred in a marriage.
It was November 2000 and (now) dh and I had split up. We had our wedding already booked for September 2001 but called it off, losing deposits and we placed our apartment on the market. There was no future for us, too many things were wrong, too many things that were too different about us. It was the end. I was sad. He was sad. There was no 'us' anymore.
Then one night I came home from work to find a note in the apartment saying that dh was staying at his parents but he wanted to talk, he did not want to give up on us after 6 stormy years. He was willing to change and make an effort. Meet him at this gorgeous Italian restaurant if I wanted to talk and to try to sort things out. I have to be honest I did not hold out much hope.... but he came through. He has worked his butt off over the last 10 years and we are happier now than we have ever been. I have also tried. It is never one sided in a marriage. We do not take our marriage, our relationship, our family or our great life for granted. You have to work hard at keeping these things alive.
If things ever seem beyond hope, I would just say - Don't give up on your marriage too early. Try hard, try really hard! Good things are always worth saving.
Dh and I have now been together for 16 years and been married for 8 of them.
We rock!!
This post was written for Tara's Gallery. It is hosted over at Sticky Fingers. Her prompt this week was 'the colour red'. This was prompted by Halloween but as Christians we do not partake in Halloween and as such I just had to go with my gut. Red always makes me think of this comment and how very excited I was to get those flowers and to feel hope, love and passion again.