“The Man said,’Finally! Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh! Name her Woman
for she was made from Man.’ Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife. They become one flesh. The two of them, the Man and his Wife, were naked, but they felt no shame.” Genesis 2:23-25 (The Message)
I’ve talked on this blog many times about my husband and our love story. We met through my sister and his best friend who worked together – two people whom we love and trust who thought we would hit it off. I always joke that I didn’t know who I dated that first summer because the focus was on friendship and it was always my husband, his best friend and me together all the time.
Reflecting back over our now 18½ years of marriage and two years of dating/engagement, that summer still holds some of the best memories for me. It was a summer of firsts – I learned the beauty of a summer night campfire, watching the sunset at South Haven, the healthy competition of miniature golf, weekly rollerblading sessions at the local bike trail, the love of 7-11 slushies, found a new favorite ice cream flavor and many other things too numerous to list. That summer I fell in love with my husband… but I also fell in “like” with him.
Almost 19 years later, I can honestly say I like my husband even more. He and I have grown – in some ways together and in some ways separately. I like that we share a spiritual bond. While we actively choose activities to help us grow spiritually as a couple, we also choose to grow our individual relationship with God at our own pace. While he continues to love rollerblading, I got tired of falling every single time and instead will sometimes walk or ride my bike to keep up with him. We have also found a new love of kayaking together, which we don’t get to participate in nearly as often but have the anticipation of more of that as our children leave our nest and fly on their own. A promise for more fun times to come. We’ve added three kids this side of Heaven and with them a love of hiking, tubing, visiting area zoos and enjoying the beach as well as continued our love of ice cream and fast food.
I really like my husband. Even if we weren’t married, he’s the kind of guy I would be drawn to spending time with. I’m glad we are married because then it’s not inappropriate, just a whole lot of fun. I like the way his whole face lights up when he smiles. I like that he doesn’t take himself (or life) too seriously but yet opens his arms and comforts me when I need it most. And I don’t even have to tell him – he just knows. I like that we share inside jokes from 21 years ago (when we first started dating) and still find new ones for each season of life we’re living in now. I like that he’s the kind of guy who takes marriage and family and parenting seriously… but again, not too seriously. I like that I can trust his decisions will be the best for our family and I like that he’s not too proud to admit when he’s wrong and will change course when needed.
I like how important it is to him that we serve God together as a family. I like that it’s important to him to build memories with our kids now… without waiting for more time, more money, more convenience. I like that he is a man our children can look up to and they do. I like that he’s not perfect because if he was, my flaws would stand out even more. I like that he forgives me. I like that he shows me with his words and his actions that he likes me too.
I really like my husband.
© Cheri Swalwell 2017