"It's Friday, I'm in Love!"

I know, I know... it's been a while. I feel like I'm always saying this. Believe it or not, I wrote two blog entries on the plane by paper and pen and I am just needing to upload my pictures from the last few weeks before posting them. I promise... they're coming! But for now, I am going to steal a post from my friend's blog (I asked her permission) because the timing of this post was impeccable. I have been reminded this week that things don't always turn out as we expect them to. We can have goals and dreams and visions, but we can't predict our future. We had a girls' dinner last week, and one of my (single) friends commented on her birthday coming up and how she thought her life would look very different at this age. Another girl asked how she thought it would look and she responded, "I thought I'd be married with kids." Some people will scoff at this, others will relate. I relate. And I told her that too. But we both remarked that we are happy with where we are. It's easy to make a timelines for ourselves... but that timeline can be so confining. I have watched friends who vowed they would never marry until they were 30 get engaged when they were 24. And friends who thought they'd have their first kid by 25 still be single at 27. My dear friend Katie who wrote the post below is struggling with infertility, and I just love her last few lines about being grateful for what she does have and recognizing the good she has been given. She is also a Recreational Therapist at a healthcare center, and we both feel privileged to witness "true love". I shouldn't even put it in quotes, because it actually does exist. She and I can both vouch for that. Some people find it at 18, some at 25, some at 40.... and while finding it we'll make mistakes, we'll remain in dead-end relationships for way too long, we'll experience heartbreak, and we'll wonder if it is actually in the cards for us. But who cares when we find it if it lasts us a lifetime?



Disclaimer: This post was not to sound like an attempt at Carrie Bradshaw's "Sex and the City" column. Please believe me.




True Love


Kate Ziolkowski

It was my turn to supervise our monthly couples lunch on Tuesday in the Health Services side of our building. Couples lunch is a big deal because all of our couples reside on different levels of care and unless there is a special occasion facilitated by their families, our couples get to eat together once a month.

So I'm sitting at couples lunch observing our 5 couples and watching them interact. Most of them are carrying on conversations with another couple, but one husband and wife catch my eye. He is stroking her arm and watching her intently. As I peer on, he grasps her hand and kisses it while whispering "I do love my sweetie, for always." This is an undying love I'm witnessing for she has dementia.

This is the same couple who greeted each other with many, many short kisses. This is the same couple I rode on an elavator with a few months ago and during the ride they shared the most passionate kiss I have ever seen. These two still can't keep their hands off each other. It's the type of marriage that may gross you out but it's the type of marriage I strive to have. The type of marriage I remind myself to make time for. These two, they have the secret to true happiness. Always love the one you're with...with all your heart. Always show affection. I don't doubt the other couples and their love for each other, but they've forgotten to hold hands, forgotten how to kiss...maybe they just take each other for granted.

In all this infertility stuff, it's easy to let myself get wrapped up in the sadness of it all. But I am always grateful that through fate, a little luck and God's divine intervention, I was allowed to meet my soulmate. My life was not complete until he walked into it. As hard as it is to realize we may never see what the two of us look like in a child, the truth is I'd rather have a total childless life with him than not have him at all. He's my true love.

And I hope I get 64 years of marriage to him just like that couple at work.

http://www.ziolkowskifamily.blogspot.com/

Katie convinces me to do crazy things like work on the set of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition from midnight 'til 4 in the morning. So glad she convinced me - very cool experience!