The best thing I can say is that wrongs, hurts and pains are all lessened in intensity by time. They may not go away but, somehow, over time we’re able to deal with it. Sometimes life is hard and that’s just a fact but time allows us to heal and move on. I’m grateful for time; truly there is no better thing.

I’ve been married for a long time. Per and I married young and I guess you could say that we grew up together as young adults. We faced some pretty tough times and, honestly, sometimes the only thing we shared between us was our commitment to marriage but we held on. We learned stuff through our growing up years that made us wiser, kinder and trusting, and for the rest of our lives we’ll honor not only our marriage but also our friendship because we’ve always loved each other and now we truly say and show it.

A counselor once told us that when young people marry, what usually happens is that they grow up but their marriage doesn’t. The year we had counseling turned our marriage around because we learned to talk and listen to each other. (I learned to speak kindly and not lash out in anger [and sometimes say nothing] and he learned to say his feelings instead of holding them in. We both learned how important it is to listen to each other, and to give what *the other person* wants to receive.)

Life isn’t always roses but hang on and know that challenging times don’t last forever. Learn what difficult things teach and be improved. One day is triumph, moving on and happiness because truly, time heals all wounds.

October 14, 2017