Marriage is a journey

I just celebrated 25 years of marriage with my husband this week. We could not believe those many years have gone by. In fact 30 years since we have been together! It seemed like yesterday that we said those vows. The day was sunny, and yet a bit breezy in the London summer. We were very young and very in love with each other. We did not know what the future held, yet we knew we wanted to discover that future together. We went down memory lane a few days ago. We remembered our walks in the West End of London. We remembered going from shop to shop on Oxford Street; most especially the HMV – the record store. We would go through their records in those days – CDs were pretty new; we often bought loads of cassettes from their stands. We always found a good jazz, love Kenny G’s work. Kay also loved a bit of Reggae in those days. We remembered the day we bought our first His and Hers Valentino jeans. We remembered going to SOHO in London, what a gritty place it felt like, yet we loved this little Chinese restaurant, where we ate our lunch that afternoon. It was a bit bizarre, with ladies hanging their bras in plain sight. I remember us watching the film Turner and Hooch in the Odeon in West London. I remember when we had no car and we would both rush to get the red London Bus in the frigid cold. It could be raining, Kay will cover me with an umbrella, and if cold, he would hold me close. We often held hands sitting next to each other on the bus. I remember the first time I laid eyes on my beau, he was wearing a whitewash jeans trousers and jacket. He wore this trainers I so loathe. And yet I was able to look past all that. There just was something about him that endeared him to me. He had that quality that could not be wrapped up and made good by the wrapping. He just had that quality in himself – he was a genuinely good man. I remember when we will both go to get our groceries, take my lot to mine, and we would make our way to his apartment. He would cook for me, and we would spend time together. We loved and still love each others’ company. We both worked hard. We knew what we wanted and wanted to succeed.

Yes, there are many stories in between.

Have they all being all laughs? No. Because we have had to grow up! We have had to mature up. We have had to learn to take responsibility and be responsible. We have learnt to love each other regardless of whatever situation there might be. Kay reminds me of times when we broke off our relationship while dating because of a tiff here and there. We cannot remember what the tiffs were, but what we would have missed if we had remained hard-headed. We laugh a lot. We love laughing. Teasing each other. We are in love with each other. Very much. I love laughs rather than frowns. I have come to know him so well. You will know someone after living with them for a length to time. You can almost predict how they would react to a situation. And as times go on, your lives will become more and more inter-twined, like ours have become: our children, friendships, relationships etc. all of these make us us.

I pray that as you read you enjoy your marriage, have laughs, and make many memories along the way also!

Linda Faith
Linda faith is the Editor in Chief of Jewels Magazine. She has authored eight books. She is a prolific writer and powerful speaker, inspiring many women to be all God has called them to be. She is the founder of Joy Women’s conference which reaches out to empower, inspire and motivate women in their faith walk. She was a software developer before she started writing.