Only Fools

 "How we tell a story is far more interesting than the story itself."

We were married in this little chapel on April 1, 2001.

April Fool's day.

I've always attested that only fools get married.

We chose this chapel for the doors. The most beautiful set of doors I've ever seen.

The first set of doors we walked through as husband and wife.

Our intention was go back annually and well, one house, 3 dogs, 3 kids, multiple college degrees and jobs later - even though it's only 40ish minutes from my house, it rarely happens.

As we approached the chapel yesterday, we could see a bridge taking her "before the ceremony" pictures.

SD jokingly asked "Should we go in and offer some wisdom?"

I've been thinking on that question. Is there any wisdom anyone could have given us that would have made the last two decades any easier? Would we have listened?

I've decided the answer to both of those is an emphatic NO.

Because...........only fools.

It takes a certain amount of blind HOPE to get married.

Hope that you'll be the people who beat the odds.

Hope that you'll be people who learn and grow.......together.

Hope that despite all the research - love is this elusive enough.

I thought about how we stood there that day on those chapel steps and we expected the best of each other.

We promised we'd be all in.

We've weathered all the things - the sickness and health, the financial struggles, the aging parents, the loss of loved ones, the birthing and raising of children, the changing of jobs, the aging house, ......the all the things.

We're not the same people who stood on those chapel steps.

That's the real struggle right?

The two kids in their late 20s made promises for completely different people in different seasons of life.

In our (very) late 40s we aren't those kids.

Somehow we have to wake up every day and remember them.

Remember the hope they had and look for it.

A friend reminded me recently that you find what you look for.

That wide eyed optimistic gal who said "I do" - she looked for the good. Always.

And she found it. Always.

She hung tight to the hope that happily ever afters exist.

Mama Warriors, as the season changes, I'm reminded that my values should drive my decisions.

I value that commitment I made on those chapel steps, behind those beautiful doors.

That value should drive what I see - I should see the good, should see the hope, should choose to remember things only fools believed.

Often I think our decisions drive our values - we chose busy, we chose our inability to set firm boundaries, we chose the path of least resistance.

And that alters the value.............

I challenge you to reverse the thinking process.

Find the value - let it drive the decision.

Be a fool.