The Best Thing I've Seen in Years

So, Russ is smiling more. And laughing more. And loving life more. He's less defensive, more humble, fun to be around. All the things that made me fall in love with him in the first place. The past year or so has been really hard with school and work and all other crazy things. I think Russ has just been really really stressed. He does so much for our family and hardly gets the recognition he deserves. Not to mention that stress can just do horrible things to you.

It's nice to have the old Russ back. It's fun to laugh and smile together. The best thing is to be able to joke and gently tease and just love each other!!

There are two seasons of love, I think - there is the season of hardship that requires patience, understanding, and enduring to the end mentality. Then there is the other season of joy and laughter and sunshine and roses. It's like winter and spring. And I think it's a cycle. I think we'll hit another patch of time where we just have to stick it out and remind ourselves that we really do love each other and that even though life is hard right now, and we wonder why we got ourselves in this family mess in the first place, sometime it's going to be all worth it. And when we're in the springtime of love and life, we need to live it to the fullest, taking advantage of each moment, each smile, each touch, each laugh. Because those things will get us through the winter.

And in the end, all we have is each other. Even if we forget how much we love each other sometimes. And boy do we love each other.