The Wilful Sunflower

Happy Valentine's Day, by the way. Josh Claybourn says Valentine's week is otherwise known as "Singleness Awareness Week". It's not so bad if you live in a television-less world, Josh. :)

My paper ran a Valentine's Day contest sponsored by The Body Shop, inviting readers to write a message to a loved one in 30 words or less. One of the winners was a 53-year-old lady, who wrote to her husband:

Round, fat, cute and jolly,
I'll love till we're old, silly and smelly,
Because, dear hubby...
You make my world go round,
happy and bubbly!

I interviewed the husband, asking him if they had pet names for each other. He calls her "Wifey". She calls him "Fatso"!!!!

It was really hilarious, but it was SO good to see a couple still together and in love after 28 years of marriage. He told us how they met - he happened to sit next to her at a business conference and he asked for her phone number. It all started from there. "You must strike while the iron is hot!" he told us.

Meeting people like him and his wife gives me hope, as does reading Jim speak of his wife Beth:

What the wife saw in me, I'll never know. On the other hand, the qualities I found in her haven't changed much in all this time. The hair is a little grayer; but I appreciate that. She never was one for all the paint and fuss, and her beauty is as appealing to me today as at the first. We're fighting a bit of a battle right now with some pain that her back is giving her, but her spunk is as feisty as ever.............

Somewhere else, he writes:

Funny, though, how all my life you could stand me up in the corner or throw me in a tight closet and it wouldn't hinder my ability to get some "shuteye". WHERE I slept had nothing to do with HOW I slept. But after thirty-eight years of marriage, put me into a double bed, and if she's not there to "snuggle up to", finding a good night's rest isn't easy. I've grown "accustomed to her touch" (or however that old song goes). Actually, it's more like I'm addicted, "hooked", can't live without her! We're as different as night and day. BUT we are "one".............

Mom and Dad aren't doing too well. It's hard because Mom sometimes talks to me about it, and I feel like I'm caught in the middle. She once told me that if not for God, she'd have divorced Dad long ago.

My mother is a godly woman; God is truly her strength and her comfort. Dad can be rather uncommunicative and moody, as well as exacting. Let's just say he's not the easiest person to live with...

I've seen my aunt tease my uncle and the way they talk about his day when he comes home, how they share things with each other. The bond between them, the love, is almost tangible, even though they don't indulge in public displays of affection. It's something I've not seen with my parents because of Dad's fierce reserve and his moodiness. We would never dare to tease him for fear of incurring his wrath.

Dad once blew up at Blink when my mischievous brother used his finger to etch his name in the dust on the car boot (trunk)'s surface. I gathered my courage to ask Dad why he was so angry - after all, it was a harmless bit of nothing, hardly worth the explosive reaction.

"Don't you know that a signature is a sign of possession?" Dad raged. "How dare he sign his name on MY car!" I was quite taken aback. Dad went on to say that even if it rained, the mark wouldn't wash off; it would have to be wiped off. Now you know why I'm still terrified of Dad till this very day. How could anyone have predicted that such an innocuous action would set him off?

So, for me, it's encouraging to read Cody Clark say:

You may have noticed that when I talk about God I sometimes use the female gender. I try to give the feminine side of God equal time. I have no problem thinking of God as a woman because the person in my life who manifests God to me most often, whose qualities most reflect the divine in my life, who ministers more to me then any other human as Christ would, is a woman. I know that God is a woman, at least in part, because of Heidi, my wife.

Wow. (Scroll up and you'll see the other two posts he made on "Heidi Week" until Heidi herself (or so he claims, hehee) 'ordered' a stop to it.)

That's the kind of marriage I'm praying for.

Whilst I'm on the subject, drop in on Ellen and read her hilarious post, of which she says, "Just in case Mr. Philately lands in the doghouse sometime soon, here is the list of the reasons I should not divorce him." One of her reasons not to divorce the mysterious Mr Philately: "I should not divorce Mr. Philately because he is the sort of man who will not just flop down on a couch and expect service (which is particularly good because I am not the sort of woman who is inclined to give it.)" Read the rest!

Also, see what Marn has to say about love and "the spousal unit", whom she's known since 1971: He don't bring me flowers, but he shovels out the driveway.