Twenty-Two Years

It was the fourth of July twenty-two years ago when our morning wedding was followed by an early afternoon reception. After celebrating with family and friends, we headed off to Toronto to begin our honeymoon. We recall being hungry and finding a Red Lobster Restaurant across the street. Last night we gathered once again at a Red Lobster, only this time with four teenagers and two sets of parents. It was nice to celebrate in this way, since it is a rare event for all our kids to be home at the same time.

We were also celebrating the realization that when you marry an individual, you can't really separate them from their family of origin. You leave your parents to marry, cleaving to someone else and forming a new family unit. Yet that person you marry comes with a whole set of expectations and needs arising from how they were raised. It seems that parental influence continues under the surface, whether we are aware of it or not.

We've moved past romantic love as being the basis for our marriage. Our more mature love is weathering the storms and is finding acceptance no matter what lies beneath the surface. As we continue to explore how we are different and how we can truly express love, we are also finding out more and more about ourselves. We will continue to make mistakes, as did our parents before us, but will simply continue to do the best we can by loving each other and then our family around us.