Hello ,
Last week, on September 11th, we remembered the attack on America. There were many specials and documentaries looking back on the events of that day, the people lost, and the many heroic acts.
September 12th was also my 12th wedding anniversary. My husband and I began dating a few months after the 9/11 attacks. We had met 5 years earlier when I briefly dated his best friend.
But the events on 9/11, gave him the courage to reach out to me and confess that he always had a crush on me, and the rest is well, history.
As I reflect on 9/11, I remember going to work on 5th Avenue in NYC on that beautiful morning. My commute was by ferry from NJ and I always saw the towers in the NYC skyline. I went to work an hour earlier that day and because of that, I missed seeing the attack live.
Today, I'm thinking about relationships and how the nation really came together as one to comfort and help their fellow humans through the pain, grief, shock, and suffering of that day. We became stronger together.
I'm also thinking of the relationships that were impacted by grief and loss. The "I love you's" that were said for the last time and the "I love you's" that we missed saying for one last time.
After 12 years of marriage and 20 years together, I'm reflecting on our experiences in our relationship. Experiences that threatened to cause us to give up on each other. But we committed to our relationship in a way that was stronger than our commitment to each other.
Here's what I mean by that. People are human and make mistakes. Our mistakes can tear us apart. Because of this, we committed to a relationship that, in spite of our mistakes, we strive to learn and grow from them to become the best version of ourselves to have the relationship that we desire.
Yes, we choose to have that relationship with each other. However, the focus is on a relationship of love, trust, compassion and understanding. We want to be happy and we want each other to be happy in our relationship with each other.
I'm sharing this with you to encourage you in your relationships. We worked hard to move past the pain and hurt of infidelity. I'm proud of us and I know that we are stronger together because of that experience.
Here we are, celebrating 12 years of marriage in the city of Berlin in Germany where we were married.
