I like to look at the grandmothers, great-grandmothers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers that I see in malls and restaurant waiting areas. I like to look at their faces and try to find their younger self hidden in there. I love to look at pictures from their youth and finally understand that dimension of their beauty.
As a female, I do find myself worrying about the way I look now as opposed to how I looked in college, or high school. And even more so, the way I’ll look in another decade. Or five.
But one thing I noticed recently was that I don’t notice the changes in my husband. The man I’ve known for ten years still looks the same to me.
I asked him if it was the same for him. Do I still look like a senior in high school to him? He said I did.
I wonder about the elderly couples waiting for a table in the Olive Garden. What do they see when they look at each other? Do they see wrinkles and gray hair? Are they distracted by bifocals? Or do they see the love of their youth. Have the many small changes of age crept so silently upon them that they have hardly noticed?
I hope so.
And I’m glad we met when I was 16. Seems like a good age to have my face frozen in my husband’s heart.
And I wonder if I could add that to my long list of reasons why I believe we were meant to marry younger than the current culture encourages.
This thought brought to you by Proverbs 5:18-19.
Interesting. My husband and I married about 4 years ago, when he was 22 and I was 19. This past weekend we were looking at some of our wedding pictures and commenting on how young we looked back then.
Sometimes it really seems odd to me that I married so young. But then I think of my best friend, who is in her third year of law school, and all that she struggles with to find a decent intelligent man to date. I’m glad I grabbed mine early. 🙂
My parents are celebrating their 44th anniversary this year. They started dating 2 years before they got married… so at 16ish for both of them. I have heard for my entire life that they still think they look as handsome/ beautiful as they did back then. My mom found a picture a couple of weeks ago from when my daddy was playing high school football. She said he is still as dreamy now and he was/ is one sexy man.
My grandparents were the same way, even at 89 my grandma thought my Poppa was the sexiest man alive. She loved watching him and seeing the man she married 55 years before that.
I love having them as a wonderful example of how to grow “old” together in a marriage.
I wish I had found my husband sooner in my life, but I am glad I found him 3 years ago… when I was 25. At least this way he still has some no wrinkly memories of me 🙂