As For Me And My Haus: marriage

Haus and I were out in the desert last weekend with family for our cousin's wedding.

It was so beautiful! The bride and groom were absolutely stunning, especially set against the dramatic backdrop of the lush palm trees and fierce desert mountains. Their joy was just as breathtaking.

Family and friends looked on with emotion and smiles. The vows. The kiss. The dance. Tender words and tears. Funny toasts. Memories. Laughter. Love.

Mother, Auntie Jean, Grams, Papa, Poppy, and Uncle Don

Me with cousins Candy and Coco

It was a time of rejoicing for this lovely couple who left behind their singleness to become "one flesh".

Isn't one-fleshedness such a strange and wonderful thing? Marriage, the reflection of Christ and the Church, is both infused with beauty and fraught with pain.

The friendship, togetherness, shared laughter, tears, silliness, inside jokes, creeping separateness, misunderstandings, disagreements, hurt, blaming, forgiveness, make-up sex, appreciation, losses, thrills, babies, miscarriages, financial gain, the bottom falling out, exhaustion, vacations, friends, sudden deaths, sleepless nights, anniversaries, celebrations, silence, peace, grace, and on and on.

It's an epic journey filled with dangers, battles, sacrifices, victories, tragedy, doldrums, and intrigue. Why did no one tell us this? Did they and we just didn't listen? Maybe it's just me, but it seems that most young couples dive head-first into marriage blissfully unaware of the depth of the wonder and happiness, the challenges and suffering ahead of them.

Have you ever wanted to stand up during a wedding and shout,

"NOOOOOOO!

DON'T DO IT!"

I have.

I suspect many have. Those who've been broken and come a hair's breadth away from divorce as we have (more than once) have likely barely withstood calling out like Galdalf the Grey,

"Fly, you fools!"

And yet, with all of marriage's struggles and sweetness, the mysterious one-fleshedness, the agony and the ecstasy of it, is worth it.

It is so worth it.

Watching my cousins, the bride and groom gazing deeply into each other's eyes with excitement and happiness, my heart could not help but respond to their joy with my own for them.

Have a happy life, sweet cousins. Love each other well. Pray together. Endure together. Rejoice together. Never stop choosing sweetness and love. Even when it gets impossibly hard. That's when it's about to get so much better and richer than before.

Remember, marriage is not for the faint of heart.