My ear, my ear!

I have a wicked earache today. Such that I took the morning off and went to the doctor. This was actually my wife's idea.

You know, I can't tell you how lucky I am. She took me to breakfast with an old friend who is dying, and then drove me to the doctor's. She then waited for me while I saw the doctor (a resident actually - I didn't even see our family doctor walking through the hall.) After I came back down, she took me to the drug store, and even offered that we go home and get me tylenol to deal with the pain. Then she drove me to work.

It was her birthday yesterday, and I tried to mask my misery. I'm not the world's greatest organizer, but that went well - everyone showed up, and we had a good time. But it seems so trivial when compared to the things she does for me, and the other people in my life.

It has made me realize how profound an intimacy being married is. Her life could have taken any course she wanted it to. She could have married anyone or noone. She could have lived anywhere, done anything. By letting me be a part of her life, as her husband, she has placed an enormous trust in me, because no longer do we have individual destinies, but shared ones. Her children would be mine - people who could not otherwise exist but through our love. The friends and families would be ours, and not simply personal. The house we would live in, the vacations we would take, the ups and downs... she put her trust in faith, faith that we would do well and that love would garnish our lives with enough happiness to make the choice a rewarding one.

This isn't easy to do, but she did it. I am in awe that she would choose to do this with me. No more am I alone. I don't look to the future, wondering what will become of me. I wonder instead what is ahead for us.

What a terrible and yet beautiful intimacy. How blessed a gift to be given.