A Love Story.

I fell in love with him on a rainy day and a quiet walk.  

Ducking in an old bookstore, laughing as we sat in the aisles, the rain falling outside.  We were young and carefree.  Desperate and aware that here was something real.  Fragile we danced around, loving, and yet so unsure we would stand the test of time.  

We wed on a cold, dark night.

We played house in our little corner apartment, in the old brick building, where we would watch the snow fall and the crowd that would gather at the bus stop.

We made dinners in our tiny kitchen and bumped into one another, laughing and glancing as we learned our story.

Then sometimes, when all was quiet and the fire glowed in embers, only the light from the street illuminating the room, we would dance.  It was joy and quiet, love, and hope trembling in the whisper of the new.

So quickly we were having a baby and suddenly all was real and it couldn't just be playing house or rain soaked adventures.  We had to grow up and push and fight our way forward.  

We argued over the ridiculous and loved foolishly.  

In our youth and innocence we made mistakes, we broke promises, and hurt one another.  

Sometimes we would stare at each other and feel the pump of anger and pain, the desperation to force the other to hear our side, our needs.

There were nights we'd lie quiet beside, not touching, too angry to move, to hurt to talk.  Sleepless we'd toss, exhausted we'd move to the other early in the day.  In the quiet, when only forgiveness and belief can draw you to each other.  We'd kiss in the soft and let go what couldn't always be fixed.

Then it quieted, the fights, the anger, the need to be right.  The rhythm of family and loving took over.  We learned our rules, understood our failings and abilities.  We stopped arguing over work times and needs.  

Gently we gave more to the other than we wanted for ourselves, we pushed harder for each other.

My needs became more important to him as his became to me.

Through the years, the joy and pain of life, we've still fallen in love on the quiet rainy days.  When the mists hang low and everything is silent, but the dripping of new outside, we find ourselves hand in hand, more together than we could ever be apart.