Take Me Back

I remember when I met you; we were so young. I thought I would never meet someone as wonderful as you, and I had pretty much given up (at 22!). Then I stopped looking for someone and there you were, in church, like magic. At that time, I just wanted a friend, not a boyfriend or husband at all. Just a friend who wouldn't break my heart. Someone who I could talk to and be real with. Not someone who would tell me I wasn't his soul mate, or even special enough to keep dating. Not someone who hurt me more than he made me happy. Not that. Not him. But you!

So now that we have been together so long, so 26 years long, when I get mad at you and think I could have had someone else, take me back. When I am irritated at you for always being late and always losing all your things, take me back. When I don't feel close to you because we have drifted for a few days and gone our own directions, take me back. When I am feeling unsafe because of your sometimes wreckless driving, take me back.

Take me back to the first walk we had on our very first date where you told me love means making yourself vulnerable and putting your heart out there, even if it gets broken. Where you taught me that there is risk involved, even in the best relationships.

Take me back to the first dinner we had at Choices, where we were the only ones there and I ordered chicken and we laughed at the muzak on their sound system.

Take me back to us standing at the altar on that perfect day in October where we listened to my father talk about love being about giving and not taking, and about Christ being the ultimate example of a love that gave til it hurt.

Take me back to our honeymoon where we broke down in Seguin, Texas and had no money to get home. Where we laughed about the steak house who was out of everything, including steak. Where we met the wonderful people who helped tow our van, get us a used car, and helped us rent a trailer to take it all home.

Take me back to our first apartment with the old, worn shag carpeting and the traffic noises out our back window and the funny and not-so-funny neighbors we had. Take me to a time when we had no money, but we had eachother, and that was more than enough.

Take me back to getting our wonderful children, one by one, and finally having a family.

Take me back until I remember that I loved you right away. That I prayed to God that you would like me. That I knew that you were the one. That I couldn't believe how lucky I was to find you. That I wanted to have your babies, and make a life and grow old with you. That throughout all the sorrows and the joys, through all the struggles and the victories, the pain and the laughter, we did it all together!

When I forget, even if just for a little while, how much you mean to me, take me back there.