Love Never Fails

Lately I have been thinking a lot about something someone told me when Toby and I got married over 14 years ago. I was told about this couple who had been married for 50+ years, and they had never spent a single night apart from each other in all those years. At the end of the story, I was left with the impression that  that was true love, and what makes a marriage great.

Shortly after our nuptials, Toby had to go out of town for training with his work, and I was left home alone. I remember feeling some dread that we wouldn't be like the couple in the story I had heard about.

Since then, there have been many many more nights spent apart, whether it has been because of either Toby's or my work, or because of family things or other outings where one of us couldn't tag along. For a long time, I had that regret of not being able to tell our kids about how perfect our marriage had been and that we never spent a single night apart.

But now as I think about it, I don't have guilt or regret. Instead, I think it has made our marriage stronger. We have both had to manage on our own. Sometimes we're alone with kids, and feel a bit like a single parent for a few days(thankfully only a few days...loads of respect for all those single parents out there)and sometimes we are all alone...no kids, with a nice quiet house that often very quickly becomes way too quiet. And we have that time apart to decompress if we have been getting on each other's nerves, and that time apart to be able to realize how much better life is with the other than without. It makes us appreciate each other. I can't speak for any other marriages. I don't know if this would be good for all marriages, but it has been good for ours...

Or at least *I* think it has been. You may need to check with Toby to see if he feels the same :)