This is Love

We fight. We yell. We shake our heads and throw up our hands. Flashes of what I cannot stand about him come into my brain while I am yelling my side. He is yelling back. I would bet that he is getting flashes in his brain about what he cannot stand about me.

There it is. He is yelling at me and suddenly he becomes his father. That really pushes me over the edge. How could I have married this guy? Don't worry - he is thinking the same thing. I am no raving beauty right now, either.

We've been carrying on like this for 21 years. In the first 10-15 years, these scenes played out quite often. Now, not so much. But we can still rustle up a good one now and then.

So now it's over. Not the marriage, silly. The argument. It's not really so much over as we just are too tired to put much more into it. So he goes upstairs to his computer and I sit here on the couch on mine. And you know what goes through my mind?

Touching the side of his face with the side of my nose. His arms tightly around me. His deep, passionate kisses and him holding me close to him.

That's just it. No matter how angry we get or how heated our arguments, I still crave his touch and being close to him. I still love his breath on my neck. I still can close my eyes and instead of seeing red and being angry, I see him walking toward me and pulling me close to him in his arms. And I imagine that one thing I love more than anything, touching his face. He has the most amazing face. I love just taking my hands and stroking his face. He is wonderful.

You see, this is a marriage. This is what it is like with two people who each have a brain and an opinion, and who are incredibly in love with each other. After three children and countless arguments and many wonderful memories, this is a marriage.

This is love. Our love.