"She refused to be bored, chiefly because she wasn't boring." Zelda Fitzgerald

Monday, March 10, 2014

Tropical Cure



We have been to parts further south, warming our toes and tanning our pelts in the tropical sun. The world is a much better place now. We are home to our beige and grey yard and it all seems shockingly wan but the snow is almost all gone, the garden catalogs are piling up in a heap on my To Read Shelf and the chickens are started laying like gangbusters. I feel a change in the wind. We 'gon make it!








My life has felt like a ridiculous tumult lately, painful and crazy and feeling out of control. I hate, hate, hate to even tell you that I know part of it has been hormonal woman-timing. PMS is so humiliating and it makes me feel so shammy and non-legit. Blech. Also, I think its a good year to just certify myself as clearly sucked under by Seasonal Affective Disorder and realize that the endless bland, bone-chilling cold and lack of sunshine has screwed with my ability to remain stable. (I am seriously considering getting one of those dorky lights to sit under, folks!) My world has also really been truly stressful. We are trudging our way through marriage counseling, one of those scary things that nobody talks about out-loud. Marriage is hands down the hardest thing, the scariest endeavor and the deepest learning experience I have ever, ever been through in my life. Honestly, it kind of terrifies me and I long for "easy" and "happy" in my marriage but its been everything but. Nobody talks out loud about marriage, you know? Its kind of this confidential, if you-have-one-you-are-supposed-to-feel-blessed kind of a thing. I don't want to make A feel bad or dump our relational dirty laundry but I do think its important sometimes to whistle blow and just be authentic and I know we both agree on the honest desire to be .






Marriage is hella hard, yo. I have never cried harder or felt deeper or worked more from the pit of my own soul than this. I am encouraged to know that people change, relationships are dynamic, that I am growing, that we love each other, that we have resources, and that we are not the first people to walk this way. Please know, if this is you in any way....not everyone marries their high school sweetheart and gets to post on Facebook that they feel so lucky to be married to their best friend. Lots of us out there are working out our marriages, its about growth and change and hard self-work and grace and patient turtle medicine in bucket loads. I have been doing some serious soul searching and I honestly believe that life belongs to the over-comers, to the learners and the doers, those who will not be defeated and will not give up, to those who humbly and vulnerably connect and believe in a spirit of change. I'm clinging to evidence of our progress and firmly planting myself in the committed but unwilling to be victimized category. I'm committed to our marriage, to the pain and the growth and the believing in each other, to preserving myself and encouraging him to do the same, to sacred advisors and the village that surrounds us, to showing our children and people who don't have it easy can be winners too and figuring all this craziness out. Please know that you, struggling married person of great worth, are not alone. I'm all about creating a new culture of humanity, openness and growth around marriage....I'm super over the trite happy-happy pretend that all is bliss or that all conflict is sickness.


This is what the tropics hath wrought. I read and prayed, and dreamed and saw things on the shore, talked and argued and made resolutions and said brave things, soaking in sunshine, slept and slept and slept, wrote lists, took photos and just *was* in a hammock on the seashore. And I'm more whole, more honest, more awake and determined to make it.



Photobucket


12 comments:

  1. Brave brave woman. I have been down that road, and it is very hard. You're not alone. I pray you and A find your way out of this quickly. Good luck, hun, stay strong!! <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All this really open support is so good and charged with such meaning. Thank you for sending me a prayer, friend. xoxo

      Delete
  2. It takes guts to open up a little about this kind of hard stuff -- good for you! And good for you both to be pursuing growth and talking and counseling and all that. It's a sign of maturity, I think, and that's what all of our marriages need ultimately, whether there have been stormy seasons or not.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Julia. I am just starving for honest truth. And I am so intimidated + inspired about what we are attempting relationally. This is real life, yo. You are really encouraging. I needed to hear all this great feedback.

      Delete
  3. Praise God for grace, guts, faith, and determination to stay in the fight! Dad and I are rooting for you, praying for you, and can echo your sentiments. Marriage has been both the toughest and the most rewarding challenge in my life, and I'm betting that's true for most people.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bless you, Carlie. You are a strong and determined woman who is going to make a difference in not only your life, but the lives of those around you. I'm so glad you were able to enjoy basking in the sunshine!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is such a beautiful post. And, I know right where you are coming from. We have been married for 12-1/2 years, and we are working out some major issues that have recently come to light. But it is a good thing. Marriage is hard work. It isn't for the timid. It is for the strong. For the ones who are strengthened through our Lord. Otherwise, I am pretty sure I would have thrown in the towel not too long ago. Thank you for being vulnerable here. It spoke to my heart and encouraged me to keep on too!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you, Bernadette. We married right around the same time. Its great to hear that being vulnerable and honest is encouraging to other people. I think we need to hear real truth about marriage and love, too much fluff out there.

    ReplyDelete