George and Katherine Jerome celebrate 35 years of marriage on February 24, 2008
An excerpt from "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. You shall be together even in the silent memory of Life.
But, let there be spaces in your togetherness, and let the winds of heaven dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love, rather let it be a moving sea between the shores of your souls
Fill each other's cup, but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread, but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone.
Even as the strings of a lute are alone, they are together as they make the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each others keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
Stand together, yet not too near together.
Like the pillars of the temple stand apart,
For the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each others shadow.
What's the secret to a long lasting marriage? It's no secret at all. It's simple, but along the way we sometimes made it hard. We learned that It's about not having to be right or needing the other to be wrong. It's about being okay with a difference in opinion. It's about gentle reminders, and listening more than speaking. It's about importance, and prioritizing and understanding the distinction. It's about giving and receiving and holding on to each other, but not too tightly. It's about knowing everything about the other, and still liking them. The car trips with little ones that seemed to go on forever, and vacations that ended too soon. It's about wallpaper and remodeling projects and old plumbing and bank accounts. It's about being able to see the richness in everyday and being grateful for what we have.
It's about sunrises and sunsets, and everything in between.
We share an extraordinary sense of humor that seemed to reveal itself at just the right moments. We laugh at the same things, and have broken hearts over the same things. Raising children brought weakness and strength we didn't know we had. Just when we thought life couldn't be better, we were rewarded with grandchildren. Overwhelmed, the experience has taken us to a spiritual place that bonded and cemented our feelings for each other adding clearer dimension and purpose to our lives.
It's about creating life together and becoming a family.
What's the secret to a long lasting marriage? It's no secret at all. It really
is quite simple. We have respect for one another to be a separate person, while standing in awe at the power of our togetherness. Over time, we've taken turns, following and leading. Those forks in the road sometimes taking us down different paths, but our destination remained the same. Our differences became something we admired and embraced, and understanding that finally, was what made us special in each other's eyes. Looking back, the past seems to have gone by in the blink of an eye, and our future we welcome with open arms.
Hand in hand, we give thanks for our gift. The present.