The Dance of Love

By Bernadette A. Moyer

We just celebrated Valentine’s Day and my house is littered with lovely valentines, flowers, candies and assorted other “love” gifts. And I appreciate them all and I am so very thankful that I have such a loving and loyal husband, he seems to get better and better as we age together.

In the beginning of our relationship, I received many flowers during our courtship and the early years. Then there were some lean years.  Last year I had to work and I remember coming home to a precious valentine and a balloon. It was all that I needed. I really don’t need much and that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate this year and the sheer generosity of my loving husband because I do.

Yesterday he surprised me, I knew we were going out to dinner but after running early morning errands I came home to find the most beautiful arranged long stem red roses sitting on our coffee table. I had no idea! Later that day he presented me with chocolate covered strawberries and the most wonderful Valentine’s Day card; it read “My Marvelous Wife” wow, does it get any better than that?

But anyone that has been in a long term marriage knows that it is about so much more than just one celebrated holiday. It is about the “dance” the daily dance between two people that decide to share a life together.

It is about seeing each other through the best of times and the worst of times and doing so from a supportive and loving place.  Our marriage is better today than it has ever been, we know how to dance to each other’s rhythm. We know when to come together and when to move apart.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner last night, in the snowstorm he dropped me off at the door of the restaurant and after dinner he brought the car back around for me. Couples that date may have that experience but I am so happy and proud to have it from my husband in our 23^rd year together. That is love. I do for him and he does for me and together our lives are richer and better than if we were apart.

During our dinner out, the restaurant was busy and fairly full as I looked around I was so happy to see so many young couples, the couples I witnessed were in their twenties and thirties and older. What impressed me was seeing the young love and their attention to how nicely they dressed and how they shared appetizers and how they “danced” together. Their dance had just begun.

Our dance is rooted in real life experiences from raising our children together to hand holding one another’s hands and hearts as each and every one of our parents passed away. We danced through our grief and we danced through our joy.

At this stage in our lives we are dancing effortlessly, we know the moves and we know what we need, what we like and how we wish to proceed.

The most wonderful love is when we are able to dance, dance, dance …

Bernadette on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bernadetteamoyer