Day 100: Love never fails

And in the end, perhaps love comes down to what we know and what we don't.  About each other.  The mystery and the knowledge.  It's Day 100 and I've just now discovered that these days are not about learning something new about love, but about relearning what I've always known.  What I've been taught.
That love is patient.  It doesn't demand a baby or a house.  It waits, knowing that good parts are ahead, even if they can't be seen.  Even if there's nothing to get up to but an grumpy dog and a line of dishes in a house that's nearly sixty degrees. 
That love is kind.  A generous compassion that gives warm banana bread to strangers.  And real love, between partners pulls this kindness from each other, challenging each to give more, to love more, to share each piece with everyone.  Because we're all undeserving, and we all desperately need real love.
That love isn't jealous; even when he's lost five pounds in four days and had ice cream every night.  Love doesn't sabatoge his success by hiding his running shoes.  No, love encourages him and praises him and runs alongside him at five in the morning.  Because his triumph is mine.  Just like my struggle is his.  We're together.
Love isn't arrogant either.   When another marriage goes sour, love doesn't act like we've got it all together.  Because wel fall so short of what we should be- of who we should be.  Love knows the struggle, and so we get quiet when our friends get divorced.  Because we know the grace that keeps us holding hands.
Love does not seek it's own.  With love, his dreams become my dreams.  And though the life that I thought I would have is not the one I do, I know this day to be better than any other I've imagined.   Because with love, real love, we change.  We become what the other needs.  He reads to me.  I dream in food.  Both pieces of each other that have become our own identities.  Because love cannot be selfish if it is to last.  If it is to be more than a match that burns itself to ashes. 
Love is not irritable or resentful.  When the house is chilly and my nose is cold.  When he wants to go to the gym and I just want to go home and crash.  When he spends 62 dollars on two days worth of groceries.  Love doesn't freak out.  Because it knows that there's growth and blessing in letting it go.  In submitting to each other.  And no, that doesn't mean I agree with him getting a four wheeler, but it means I won't yell at him if he does.
Love seeks the truth.  Like a missile aimed for heat, love searches out the truth in each other, splitting away the facade and the pieces that don't matter until the heart of each other is known.  Love longs for something real, something solid and true to sink into and grow.  And so I look at my husband and tell him what I know.   That he is kind and strong.  That he is brave.  Love speaks these words aloud, because these truths are the ones that remain when the other pieces of our union start to shake.
Love bears all things.  Including the doctor's office.  And unemployment.  Including a womb that feels empty and a bank account that really is.  Love says it's going to be alright, even when neither of you know if that's true.
Love hopes all things.  Love holds onto the promise that tomorrow could be better.  It doesn't curl up in the fetal position and cry all night long.  No, love uncurls itself and wraps its arms around him.  Love accepts the cruelty of hope dissapointed, just to wait another day.  Just to see what may be. 
Love believes all things.  That the passion will stay.  That the future is worth fighting for.  That forever is a very long time.  Love believes all things because love wants to stay alive.  And it's believing in each other that keeps it so.
Love never fails.  It doesn't.  Love is stronger than my husbands coffee.  It is deeper than the dark night sky that twirls above our heads.  Love is faster than the seconds of our lives that tick away, even now, more potent than a clove of my father's homegrown garlic.  Love is life.  And it doesn't not fail.  It cannot.