My heart is heavy today and when heaviness sets in on me it usually turns to words on a blog.

Just to lighten it up a little, I can hear the priest from Princess Bride, "Mawwiage, Mawwiage is what

Bwings us togevah today"

Put on the grown up undies cuz it's about to get REAL!

Someone asked me a long time ago, what makes your marriage work so well?

I had no idea what to tell her.

But I think I do now. Commitment and WORK!!! It ain't the Glam answer that people want but it's

the truth!

I never really understood how old people could say they loved their spouse more now than when they

first got married. But now I get it. I totally understand. I guess that makes me old!

Long after the butterflies in your stomach migrate south. There has to be more.

There is this amazing thing about commitment, it makes a marriage safe, trust filled, uninhibited,

and thus, long lasting.

The love I feel is deeper today than it was when we first got married because life has happened.

Developing deeper and more intimate love than we could have ever hoped for as love struck

teenagers a long long time ago. You see, as you go through the mountain tops and the valley's of life,

and your partner is walking with you, You develop trust. Trust that they will be there in the good

times and bad, for rich or for poor, in sickness and health,

Because they have! Its not just something cute you say in a marriage ceremony to make it legal.

IT'S REAL!

You actually have to live it out. And when you do, you come out on the other side of it, a better and

stronger couple because you have created another link in a chain that cannot be easily broken!

Every fun, difficult, wonderful and awful thing that you go through with your spouse and hang in

there for, creates a link.

A link to love that isn't a feeling and isn't a ball and chain but a perfectly designed beautiful chain

just for you! That links your two hearts together. Sounds corny doesn't it? Yep, but I know way to

many people that look at the bad times as an escape route, and the times when life is easy and going

along great, finances are in order and the kids are moving out and the house is perfect. People forget

how they got there. Thus, cutting the links. This is when it's also easy to lose your commitment.

I can honestly say that it has not been easy. We have had times where we look across the table from

each other and wonder what we did.  But our resolve is greater that our trials so we never are allowed

stay there!!

People think marriage isn't work. But I am here to tell you it is a full-time mandatory overtime on

weekends kind of work. Not to be taken lightly but to be taken seriously.

This is real life: You will get mad, you will get frustrated, you will not always get your way, you will

not always have what you want.

But your commitment to your marriage is worth giving up your way, anger, frustration, and wants.

Laugh at crazy things that happen, date often, and for heavens sake just  BE NICE (something so

simple but often forgotten in marriage)

COMMITMENT IS HARD WORK!

But the reward is a marriage filled with love, trust, intimacy, and a life of joy. But its all your choice

men and women, it's all your choice.

Choose well.