Broken Glasses

Joe and I got married in 2007 and at that time we registered for those practical items every household needs. Dishes, drink ware, Rubbermaid containers, towels, bedding... all the things that Target says to zap with that fun little gun. Now it is coming to the end of 2010 and I have made an observation.

The life expectancy of drink ware is approximately 3 years.

This summer as we celebrated our 3rd anniversary we needed to make a purchase of new drink ware. For some reason they kept breaking. (OK, I am a klutz and take some responsibility for that.) This past week 2 more glasses met their fate. One shattered when our toddler decided she wanted her sweatshirt off of the table, proceeding to knock a glass on the floor in the process of being independent, shattering pieces across the floor. A second one cracked a little as I washed dishes. Thankfully neither Kayla nor myself were cut in the process.

I have been thinking a lot about those glasses.

Love is a lot like those glasses. One day you are handed this precious gift. Someone enters your world and you exchange with one another your fragile hearts. Entrusting this person to handle it with care. Inevitably the other person fumbles and drops your heart. Sometimes they shatter it and you are left trying to pick up the pieces knowing you will never be able to put them together again. It is a lost cause. You take the shards and have to walk away. Sometimes it falls and a crack appears... and while it isn't the same as it was before, you can't use it in the way that you did before, you find a new use for it. The glass is redefined. But sometimes they lose their grip and there it falls and you watch in amazement as just kind of rolls to a stop. Sure it may be a little scuffed but nothing that picking it up and wiping it off won't fix. It is in those moments that you realize that even though the other person lost their grip for a moment, you are resilient. You pick yourself up, dust yourself off and put your heart back in their capable hands.

I have been very lucky in my 3 1/2 years of marriage. I think my husband would agree. We have had moments where we bumbled and fumbled, but picked each other up, dusted off and continued down life's path together. I know now just as much as I did the day I married him that I trust him with my heart. It's a fragile thing and I know that he understands that.