In sickness

I'm sure most couples never give a second thought to each line of their wedding vows.  When you're in the happy moment, caught up in the magic of your wedding day, you only think and dream of all the good parts.....for better...for richer...in health.  I know I certainly wouldn't have imagined that within our first fifteen years, we'd experience the highs and lows of every vow.

Our vows were important to us though and we'd even considered writing our own.  Writing vows would've come very easy for me but Tim didn't want to tackle that task and was so nervous that day, he did good just to recite them.  We did have several discussions about our vows and even made a few changes to make them our own.

The vow you don't really think about, especially when you marry young, is "in sickness and in health."  When you're young and healthy, you feel invincible.  You imagine the in sickness part will only come during the silver haired years of your marriage.  For Tim and I, our first lengthy sickness was a major one and came during our motorcycle wreck six years ago.  We surely didn't expect to be helping each other with walkers, wheelchairs and baths at that stage of our relationship.  A lengthy injury like that truly tests your marriage and I'm grateful we came out stronger on the other side.

The past few days have no comparison but I find myself being nurse to Tim.  He had a minor outpatient surgery yesterday; however, going through all that we have we don't underestimate anything.  It surely was the reason for my lack of sleep this weekend and bad dreams, as I worried about him.  My faith and trust in God doesn't change the fact that I selfishly want Tim by my side until we are old with silver hair.

It's hard to find joy in stressful situations, with answers still unknown, but I've reminded myself time and again to be happy and thankful in and for each moment.  His surgery was successful and Tim returned to the room quickly, without any complications.  We laughed in the funny moments as he came out of anesthesia.  I'm grateful for the opportunity the past two days have given us to be together.  I'm glad to take extra care over him, as he's not one to admit when he doesn't feel well, often going to work sick.  I don't enjoy seeing him in pain but I'm happy to be at his side to offer any comfort I can.  And, I'm prayerful that the results will come back to us with good news. 

Regardless of the situations ahead of us, I know we will have and hold, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish through yesterdays, to now and forever.