The First Chapter

Not too long ago, I wrote a blog entitled The Last Chapter about meeting the person I hoped to walk with down the pathway of life. A very dear friend commented that The Last Chapter of one book is really just The First Chapter of the next. I wonder if she knew then how right she’d be...

Friday night, somewhere around sunset while watching hummingbirds flit around the backyard, the guy you’ve come to know as the “nicest guy on the planet” asked me to spend the rest of my life hand-in-hand and heart-to-heart with him. Saying YES to marrying Robert was the most natural thing in the world; it was like I’d said it a million times before and yet, like it didn’t need to be said at all because we both just knew that the pieces had fallen into place for us to have our own Happily Ever After.

And so a new chapter begins, the first chapter of our life together, and while there are countless parts of this story that have yet to unfold, here’s what I do know…

I know that when I think of the future, his hand is the one I want holding mine. I know his feet are the ones I want to step on when we slow dance in the kitchen and his arms are the ones I want around me when I need shelter from a rough day. I know his laughter is the sound I want ringing in my ears and his words are the ones I want encouraging me. I know his sorrows are the ones I want to divide and his joys are the ones I want to multiply.

I know that no matter where we are, or where this path takes us, we’ll walk it side by side and simply being together will be enough. I know that we’re grounded in a friendship that grew into love and that we are both truly blessed to have amazing parents as role models for what marriages should be. And I know that not only will I be joining together with a wonderful husband, I’ll also become part of a family that includes fantastic people who genuinely care about others and go out of their way to lend a helping hand or give an encouraging word (and he’ll be joining a pretty awesome family too!).

I know it won’t be easy and it won’t always be fun but I also know that he’s one of the hardest working men I know and that he’s more than willing (and able) to rise to the challenge of putting up with my quirks. I know he understands me even when I don’t understand myself and that he is always patient and kind. I know he loves me unconditionally even when I don’t deserve it because he knows that’s when I need it the most. I know he makes me laugh and that when he’s not around, the things he says float through my mind and I laugh all over again. And I know that no matter how long “the rest of our lives” turns out to be, I’ll want to love him five minutes more.

And for now, I don’t need to figure out the rest. I know enough to know that if the rest of this story is anything like the first chapter, it’s going to be a best seller and I’m going to read every page twice. :)