Forever Isn't Long Enough

My mom was a big Michael Bolton fan while I was growing up.  I knew most of the lyrics to his Time Love and Tenderness album, not because I loved the music, but because it was played around the house and in the car so often.

One of his songs on that album is "Forever Isn't Long Enough" and the rest of the line goes on to say, "... to give all my love to you."

My husband and I are coming up on our fourth anniversary.  It's still a few months away, but it really baffles my mind to think about it.

Four years is like nothing.  Four years is such a tiny window of time.  Four years is how long I was in college, and high school.  Four years seems so small when you think that we will spend the rest of our lives together.

And yet, in four years everything has changed.  In four years we have become so good together.  In four years we have become such strong partners.

After four years I can't imagine anything without my husband.  After four years he is still my favorite person.  After four years he is still my best friend.  After four years we still are such a good balance for each other.  After four years we still want to make the other happy and make the other's dreams come true.

We have done so much in the past four years, and they have been wonderful years.  But we have hardly scratched the surface of all our dreams for our life together.  We still have so much more life to live.  We have so many more things to work toward.  We have so many more things to work out.  We really are just getting started.

When I think about the things we, Lord Willing, still have before us, it is not as simple as "We'd like to buy a house.  We'd like to have another child.  We'd like to travel to Asia."  We have so many more arguments to have.  We have so many more jokes to make.  We have so many more loads of laundry to do, and trash cans to take out.  We have so many more meals to eat together, movies to watch together, cuddles to have with our daughter in the middle, walks to take with Lloyd off the leash.

When I think about the next four years, ten years, twenty years, forty years... forever really isn't enough.  My husband isn't like a bag of chips where after a few handfuls I've had enough.  He's not like my college or graduate school that eventually I've learned all I can and move on.

We have grown together these four years.  There have been new animals, new family members, new living situations, new medical challenges, new diets, new trips, new dreams, new books, new churches, new friends, new jobs, new hobbies, new schooling... but we have belonged to each other throughout the changes.

I'm not saying it will be easy... these past four years haven't been easy.  But every year is work, every year gets better, and every year is wonderful.
Forever really isn't going to be long enough.