Choosing to stay...

I love The Sun...and I read it from cover to cover.
Thanks again, Donna!

Marriage is an institution that brings together two people
"under the influence of the most violent, most insane,
most delusive and most transient of passions. 
They are required to swear that they will remain
in that excited, abnormal, and exhausting condition
continuously
until death do them part."
~George Bernard Shaw

There have been times when I've been so angry

or so hurt that I thought my love would never recover. 

And then, in the midst of near despair,

something has happened beneath the surface. 

A bright little flashing fish of hope has flicked silver fins

and the water is bright

and suddenly I am returned to a state of love again

--till next time. 

~Madeleine L'Engle

There are always those perfect times

with the people we love,

those moments of joy and equality that sustain us later on...

These moments are the foundation upon which

we build the house that will shelter us into our final years,

so that when love calls out,

"How far would you go for me?"

you can look it in the eye and say truthfully,

"Farther than you would ever have thought was possible."

~Ann Patchett

A Marriage

You are holding up a ceiling

with both arms. It is very heavy,

but you must hold it up, or else

it will fall down on you. Your arms

are tired, terribly tired,

and, as the day goes on, it feels

as if either your arms or the ceiling

will soon collapse.

But then,

unexpectedly,

something wonderful happens:

Someone,

a man or a woman,

walks into the room

and holds their arms up

to the ceiling beside you.

So you finally get

to take down your arms.

You feel the relief of respite,

the blood flowing back

to your fingers and arms.

And when your partner's arms tire,

you hold up your own

to relieve him again.

And it can go on like this

for many years

without the house falling.

~Michael Blumenthal