Monday, September 8, 2008

It's so nice to dream with you.

Torsten and I had another lovely weekend with no real activities or errands or responsibilities involved. Last night we walked about a mile down the road and had dinner at a little Italian restaurant that we'd been meaning to try. The weather was lovely and the food was good and the conversation was fascinating. Torsten talked about the expectations his parents always placed on him when he was a kid, and the expectations they have for him now. We walked home hand in hand, talking about the expectations we'll have for our own kids, and when we'd like to have our kids.

I just feel blissful about the prospect of the rest of my life. My own happiness almost scares me in how full it is. I am utterly happy now--I have hopes and dreams and plans, and things that I want and don't have, and yet I am so content with the way things are. Our life is so simply happy. We have no debt, we have no worries, we have few responsibilities. We have jobs that we enjoy and an apartment we like and families we love and friends we adore and above all, we have each other.

And I am so excited about a life together, and all the things we will have together, and all the time we will spend together. I am excited to have a house, and a dog, and a child. I am so excited to advance in our careers and our personal lives and grow together and turn to each other and experience everything together.

It makes me so happy to know that no matter what happens in my life, Torsten will be there with me, always on my side, always rooting for me, always supporting me. And that I will be the person he comes to as well, the person who gets to know about his innermost thoughts and feelings, the person that gets access to his tenderness and his caring and his priorities. I feel privileged to get to know him like that, to get to be there for him, to know that he will always be there for me.

When I was younger I wasn't sure I'd like to get married, wasn't sure I believed that you could promise someone that you could love them for the rest of your life, wasn't OK with the idea of making a promise that you weren't sure you could keep. I thought about love in poetically romantic terms, all-consuming love where you couldn't imagine ever being without the other person.

And I do feel that way about Torsten, that romantic and consuming love, but I also feel for him an incredible comraderie, a feeling of being a unit, a team. A consideration of shared needs and goals, not what's best for him or for me but for us as a unit, and what's best for one or the other fitting inside what's best for us as a whole. And that's the part of love that I didn't understand before I experienced it myself, and the part that makes me sure that marriage is right, and that we will only grow to be even more happy and in love as we get older. That shared experience, that shared desire for rightness and growth, those shared goals and aspirations.

That's what I have with Torsten, and because I have it I can tell that it will always be like that, that with work and caring we will grow together and our shared history will only strengthen our marriage, even any painful bits that we may encounter along the way. So my old question is answered: I would like to get married, and I am capable of making and keeping that promise, and I'm so excited to do so.

27 comments:

  1. I am in love with your writing. I admire how you are able to put your feelings into words. Just wonderful!

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  2. /swoon

    Very sweet and honest. I really enjoyed this, I've been thinking a lot about my upcoming wedding and have been rattled around by family a lot this week, this is a nice touchstone post.

    Thanks for putting it out there.

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  3. I'm glad you found someone like Torsten to spend the rest of your life with. Wish the rest of us were this lucky.

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  4. It's sweet that you know how lucky you are in finding that person to spend your life with.

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  5. Besides the fact you are truly and genuinely happy, you know what is so wonderful about this post? About your mindset? It's the fact that in the middle of planning a wedding, you are capable of taking time out to appreciate life. To appreciate your fiance. To appreciate all that you have. And I'd argue most brides really don't take that time out. And waste months on end planning, instead of enjoying. Kudos to you!

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  6. Awww...thanks for this post. It's great to hear about other peoples' happiness--a nice counter to everything out there telling us not to dream of a life like you just described.

    Enjoy!!!

    :)

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  7. Oh, don't worry, sometimes it won't be blissful :) During those times, though, it is nice to remember the these moments.

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  8. I am so excited for you! I hope one day to have the same feelings about someone.

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  9. This is so beautiful, Jess. I think you could send that to a magazine and have it published.

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  10. This was really beautiful. I'm sure that you will have a lovely life with Torsten, ups and downs included.

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  11. Beautiful, Jess. That's exactly how I felt (and feel) about marrying my husband. You two are going to be great at the marriage thing!

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  12. Wait a minute...no debt?!?! Oh my I'm so jealous! We could buy a house with our school debt.

    What a sweet post. You're going to love marriage. It's fantastic :)

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  13. Aw, what a great post! I want to go hug my husband now! :)

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  14. I agree with everyone else in that this post was beautiful. I couldn't be happier for you. Congratulations!

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  15. I am so glad that you're so happy with this transition you're making.

    I am wishing you and Torsten and your family (as it grows) every happiness.

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  16. I love it! Love what you said about the comraderie too. I love how one spouse's accomplishments become the other's in a marriage, and the same with burdens. With respect to the no debt thing my husband and I just did a frugal 2008 - no fancy vacays, or exciting purchases (tax refunds went to paying off our vehicle ahead of schedule) and it is truly amazing 1 - how quick the debt gets paid down, and 2 - how no stress of a kajillion different payments = happiness, despite earning modest amounts. I am a huge advocate of the simple life.

    Less than 2 months to the big day, how exciting for you.

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  17. sooo amazingly sweet...

    you are torsten are going to live an amazing life together!

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  18. that was sooo sweet :)

    i wish you both all the happiness in the world!!

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  19. What a beautiful post. It's wonderful that you feel that way.

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  20. It's a happily ever after kind of thing. I'm so happy for both of you. Your future looks very bright!

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  21. I'm very happy for you. That was a pretty post.

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  22. It all sounds lovely. It's so good to write this down because at some point you're going to go through hard times (as we all do) and be able to remind yourself of the good stuff.

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  23. I have tears. Seriously. This is absolutely amazing.

    xox

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  24. Beautiful post! I am glad you are so happy, I hope I will find that too someday.
    I am adding this one to the list of favorite posts on my blog!

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  25. This is one reason why I love knowing engaged people - it's a great reminder to me of the hope I had at the beginning of our six years, and also a great reminder to keep plugging along through the more, er, difficult moments. Thanks, Jess!

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