Valentines

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

-Shakespeare's Sonnet CXVI

I have this sonnet framed on the dresser in our room. I bought the print at Shakespeare's birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon when I went with my sister a few years ago. I love this sonnet. In fact I even had it memorized during the first few months of Nate's life. The only way we could get him to fall asleep for a time was to strap him in his car seat and swing the seat back and forth. So, I would use the dresser to brace myself with one hand and swing the seat with the other while reading this poem.

It describes so beautifully what love is to me: constant, steady and loyal. Love endures, despite adverse circumstances. Of course love is not merely an emotion. It requires action--constant nuturing through acts of kindness and consideration. So, for love to be constant, those actions must be constant.

I'm thankful for a husband who lives this principle. I'm thankful for a love strong and steady enough to build a family and a life on.

I'm thankful for my valentines...Happy Valentine's Day!