There are at least twelve thousand justifiable reasons to
end a marriage, a love affair or a friendship. Men never quite measure up to your
expectations. There are at least twelve thousand ways in which a man can
disappoint you or hurt you when you give your life over to him. If you seize
upon these reasons and his imperfections, you will walk. You’ll find another
man, reset the odometer and find those twelve thousand flaws in someone new.
On
your more rational days, you’ll look into the mirror and know that there are
twelve thousand ways in which you yourself are a disastrous friend, lover or
husband. But on your wisest of days, you’ll count twelve thousand reasons for
loving him, not the least of which is that he loves you back.
Today is my
seventh wedding anniversary and the anniversary of the day I met Christopher thirty-two
years ago. I shudder to think of the times we could have called it quits, and of
how terrible it would have been to let our dissatisfactions overrule the
irreplaceable good we find in each other. His wisdom, kindness, patience and
beauty are all I have and all I ever will have. For twelve thousand days we
have been together and he has given me countless reasons to want twelve
thousand more
