Even on the Hard Days (?)

I love a good love story. And I love Downton Abbey.  So naturally I was completely devastated by the death of Matthew Crawley at the end of season 3.  Devastated to the point that I hid in bed and ate copious amounts of ice cream for at least a week and vowed to NEVER watch Downton again.

Okay, that may or may not be and exaggeration and OF COURSE I watched season 4.

I love this quote from the series "I would never be happy with anyone else as long as you walked the earth" (Lady Mary of Matthew).  I feel the same way about my husband and I was thinking about the kind of love we have today-20 years into our relationship (and, no, I was not a child-bride, we have been married 13 years, but together 20).

So often we hear, and I have even said myself, "I love you always, even on the bad days" or "through the tough times".  But the more I think about it, I wouldn't want to go through the "bad days" or "tough times" with anyone else.  I love my husband MORE in these times.  I couldn't make it through these times without him and I wouldn't want to try.

Marriage is not about tolerating our spouse during tough times and enjoying them during the good times.  True love and marriage is about clinging to one another and supporting each other during the struggles.

He is my rock and my life and I love him not in spite of our bad days but because of them.