Mawage, that Dweam Wifin a Dweam

I wish I had a husband who would watch the kids while I go away for a Friday evening and a Saturday all day. I wish I had a husband who would straighten up while I'm away, so I come home to a neat house at the end of my outing. I wish I had a husband who would say, "Go enjoy yourself," and wouldn't complain about how little our baby slept during his morning nap. I wish I had a husband who would take our kids to the park while I'm gone. I wish I had a husband who would make calzones from scratch for the first time ever all by himself and cut up vegetables (which he does not like), including onions (which make him tear up) to put on my calzone. I wish I had a husband who would ask me at the end of the day what I learned and what I heard and what I liked best. I wish I had a husband who wouldn't complain when he didn't manage to get his homework done over the weekend because of my plans, and who wouldn't complain when he had to get up at 5:00 am on Monday to complete his assignments. Oh, wait. Actually, I do. Well, how 'bout that!

In fact, this is not a love note. Public love notes aren't really our thing. This is more a commentary on marriage. I've been thinking A TON about marriage lately. And it may be a topic I revisit again. But what I've concluded recently (from watching other people's marriages and from contemplating my own marriage) is that marriage can be a fragile thing. How can it be so powerful at times and so frail at others? And it seems to me that everybody goes through cycles of each end of the spectrum where it's a little weaker at times and a little stronger at times. But when we've ridden out some of our struggles-- and, all right, we've only been married five years, but we have actually still had some pretty intense moments of major disagreement or contention or offending each other-- but when we've ridden out some of our struggles, we have something so much better on the other side. I'm not immune to the fact that some things are too awful to ride out together. And I'm not saying that there aren't reasons for divorce. But I recently heard a really, really weak reason for divorce with no intention of trying to work it out. And that to me was heartbreaking. Because, well, marriage really can be a dream within a dream sometimes. And that, to me, is worth making an effort.

(Patrick did not get The Princess Bride reference, but I hope somebody did.)

[Note to friends: Ah hem, I may have lost any commitment I had (or didn't have) to pretending like I was going to post a picture when I post. So let it be known, so let it be written. Hopefully, you still love me enough to read my picture-less thoughts anyway. Plus, I figure all you people who want to see our pictures are on Facebook where I recently spewed forth an over-abundance of pictures so that you can look at our cute little family until you get sick of our cuteness. There. Now I said it. Perhaps I'll surprise you from time to time, but I just wanted to shatter that dream--the dream that I would do what bloggers probably ought to do-- once and for all and make it official, though you may have come to suspect that at this point anyway.]