coincidence? i think not.

i am a huge book nerd. i keep one in my purse and one in my cd player at all times. if i don't have one in my car, i get anxious. and bored.

one of the things i love most about being with david is that we can both spend an entire afternoon just reading, side by side, and be completely content.

when i went through my divorce, i read (or, rather, listened to) eat. pray. love. it was fitting, really. i had recently just "relearned" how to eat, pray, and love (myself).  i enjoyed the book immensely. it was one of those that made me sad when it ended.

yesterday, i picked up committed.  it just hit me how fitting my timing with elizabeth gilbert has been. here i am, about to remarry next month, reading about her own journey once again.

i've reflected a lot these past few days about my own views of marriage. i feel blessed to have the opportunity to love again  finally find and understand love.

after my divorce, i went through so many emotions when thinking of marriage. it was one of those things i longed for as a simple human desire, but absolutely scared me to death at the same time. the horrible experience of divorce is enough to make anyone terrified of the mere possibility of it happening again.

i dated someone before david. thinking about the possibility of marriage with him, though i knew i could be happy, made me break out into a sweat. something was missing.

it's different with david.

as i've said before, he makes me feel like a better person. he understands me, accepts me (messiness and all).

when i think of love, marriage, and david, i completely understand and, even more astounding, believe again in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.