Remind Me

After 23 years of marriage,
3 children,
4 moves,
2 career changes,

And now one horrific fight…

They found themselves looking at each other,
Exhausted,

Anger lingering

Amidst the tracks of tears…

And wondering if their original idea,

Of life together,

Was still right for them.
And meant to be.

Over those years,
Time had taken its toll,

On their energy…

On their happiness…

On their expectations,
Of what they had hoped
For their lives.

Emotionally,
They were no better off.

With each year,
They both began to take the other
For granted,
As if they were each entitled
To the support,

Worthy,
Or not,

Of their spouse…

Like some unspoken,
New Year’s expectation.

As their emotions ebbed,
So did their physical pleasure
Provided to one another…

Diluted,
Drained,

Now, simply scheduled…

As if an appointment.

This was the context,
Capturing completely,
The new persona,
Of their lost
Love.

And now,
Dangerously close
To ending their marriage,
They struggled to find
A reason for saving it.

So with exasperation,
She looked at him through tear-stained eyes,
Voice cracking,
And pleaded,

“Remind me…remind me,
Why we ever did this…

Why we got married
In the first place.”

Profound silence,
Engulfed them.

But, those words,
In that moment,
Cut through the varnish
On their hearts,

All the layers of apathy,
Applied for the past 23 years.

“Remind me,”
She pleaded again.

Somehow…

The awkward,
Painful silence,
Wrested them from the painful now…

To an earlier time.

Somehow…

In his mind’s eye
Now,
He saw her,
Again,
On that first date.

And in her mind’s eye,
Serendipitously,
She saw the same.

The freshness of that boy,
And that girl…

So anxious,
So afraid of a relationship,
But nonetheless, so excited,
Of the newness,
Of a boy,
And girl…

Together.

That freshness
From so long ago,
Washed over them again,
Now,
Like the first warm breeze of spring.

And so, he saw her again,
As he saw her then…

Like the most beautiful rose,
In all his garden.

And she saw him again,
As she saw him then…

Like the brightest star
In her galaxy.

And in the deafening silence
Of the now,

Emotion buffeting their marriage,

Beating them with idealistic blows…

Their hearts, somehow,
Connected,
And communicated.

Falling into one another,
They both began to weep,
Lifted from their despair,
By Grace.

Just by reflecting,
And remembering
For themselves…

What mattered most.

And pledging,
From that day,
Forward…

To take a moment,
Both in good times,
And bad,

To remind each other,

Of what was really important…

Just to,

Just to…

Remind each other.

 

 

© 2018 W. C. Stacia, Jr.