I adore little notebooks, have quite a collection actually. Fill them up with recipes, friends phone numbers, jobs, scrapbook designs, etc, etc, etc. Recently while cleaning out a drawer I found one of my notebooks which had been forgotten. When I opened and scanned it for anything important, I came across something I’d written about seven years ago about my husband. Since today is Valentines Day, it seems appropriate to share with you!
A message on my answering machine would change my life as I knew it. The message was simple, ” Hey Girl, “<insert, my heart pounding at the sound> “thought I’d check in on you. Drew told me you were back in town. Call me.”
Now, that doesn’t seem like much of a life changer, but it was for me. I knew his voice. I”d heard “Hey Girl” for over fifteen years. I always wondered how he made “Hey Girl” sound so enticing and territorial.
I was twenty eight, had been divorced about a year and traveled as a manufacturer’s sales rep. I had moved back to Nashville about five months earlier.
It’s the first week of February, and I had just finished a trade show in Atlanta and received the message upon my return home. I sat and stared at the phone for a long few minutes. The man on the other end had been my best, most faithful friend since high school. I had not heard from him in over three years. He”d missed the drama of my divorce. He had never married.
We talked for hours when I called. The most beautiful part of our friendship was that time condensed down to nothing every time we talked. We talked every night for that first week. Valentines Day 1994 was our first date. When he came to pick me up, he held one long stemmed red rose. We talked into the night about families, life, dreams and work. On that first date he told me he never planned on marrying. He was too set in his ways. When he asked me what I thought about marrying again, I told him I missed the companionship but was not in any hurry to repeat.
We slid into an easy relationship built on years of friendship. A few months later we were inseparable. On a cold December night in 1995, he proposed during a tickle fight. One week later we eloped.
I give you this prelude to the real story in order to set the stage.
How did his message change my life?
I have spent the last ten years (now 17) knowing I was loved. Loved deeper and stronger than anything I could have imagined. Freed me to be completely myself, no games, no pretense. To Rest in the knowledge and comfort of his love. A celebration every day of our marriage (still true.). SAFE- this was a biggie for me! He is so strong, I feel so small and safe. He is my rock, my safe harbor. He tells me every day that I’m beautiful. ( You know, after a while, you begin to believe it!) I feel his love in the way he touches me. I have my own little piece of heaven here on earth, because of the man I married.
I lift up prayers of thankfulness. My heart keeps melody with his. He is the rhythm of my blood coursing through my body. He is my life song. * end of story.
Today, I know this love is a gift from God. It is a pure reflection of the way he loves each of us!
I hope today, Valentines Day 2013, you’ll find someone you love and tell them how they enrich your life. Thanks for letting me share mine.
The Healing Tree 