Life Lesson #99 ~ Give ‘Em Something to Talk About

“Marriage doesn’t make you happy --- you make your marriage happy.  ~ Dr. Les and Leslie Parrott

I’m amazed by the life I have, the one I’ve been given and entrusted with. I’m happy living this life of mine. It's full of love, laughter and adventure. I’m married to the love of my life. Together we have two amazing, smart and handsome boys.  We have a beautiful home, good jobs and a lifestyle we’re content with. Our life is a good one. Have we faced challenges, yes we have. Have we experienced ups and downs, absolutely we have.  Has life been a white picket fence, no way but it has been an incredibly happy life.

It's no secret Johnny is the love of my life. From the moment my eyes met his, I knew there would never be another. He was so young back then with a baby face. I was completely taken by his eyes; they just felt so intense and wild, free and full of fire. His grin was rather devilish causing my heart to skip a beat every time he looked at me.   Johnny was everything I wasn’t and everything I couldn’t wrap my mind around. He was a little but of a bad boy, a rebel, walking on the wild side just enough to make me curious. And when he first kissed me, I literally had one of those boy meets girl romantic movie foot lifts off the ground kind of moments. Honestly, till this day, over 21 years since Johnny first pressed his lips to mine; I still get those first kiss kind of moments. For me, a kiss, well it’s one of the most magical things two people can share. I guess that’s why there are so many pictures of Johnny and I caught stealing a kiss. When Johnny pulls me close to kiss me all these years later I still see those same big intense brown eyes of his and I have to catch my breathe. His devilish grind, it still leaves me breathless and yes, I inevitably feel my heart skip a beat. After all these years, kissing the love of my life thousands of times and waiting for his lips to reach mine, I still feel a fire building up inside me. I can honestly say', “The best kiss is the one that has been exchanged a thousand times between the eyes before it reaches the lips.”

You know the old Bonnie Raitt song, 'Something to Talk About', it's one of my favorites. I can hear it playing through my thoughts right now, “Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about babe, a little mystery to figure out. Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about, how about love? Ooh... Listen to 'em baby (Somethin' to talk about). A little mystery won't hurt 'em (Somethin' to talk about). Let's give 'em somethin' to talk, how about our love, love, love, love.” And truly we have given them all something to talk about right from the start I guess.  Johnny and I, we married young; I’m talking twenty-four and twenty-two. I know we were babies honestly. By today’s standards we were barely out of the crib, let alone ready for marriage.  Our beginning, just like that of our parents before us, was a whirlwind. Almost six months from the day Johnny and I met we were married. Like I've said before, we for sure gave ém something to talk about. Our wedding was beautiful, full of colorful violets and purples and during the early spring too, outside under a canopy of trees just like the movie Robin Hood. It was perfect, romantic and very us. Our wedding felt exceptionally intimate, close, personal and private. Long before we stood under the blue sly, in front of our family and friends taking our vows, we knew we’d found the love of our lives in each other. Johnny and I, well we’ve always had this way about us, a very spirited, feisty, frisky and very lively dynamic that we can’t keep bottled up even if we try. We’re playful, honest with one another and we simply live and love in the moment. We banter with one another all the time, and then break out laughing together. To our kids horror, dismay and the many, “Oh dad, yuck” or "Mom, really, now” Johnny and I have no problem showing each other affection or as our kids say PDA. It’s crazy right, being married 20 years and still acting like you’re young and in love? Who would think right? But then Johnny and I started out together giving folks something to talk about, so why would we stop now?

The truth is after all this time and all these years every night I roll over I’m still thankful for the love we share. It’s far from perfect but it’s uniquely our own. I’m blessed to be Johnny’s wife, to share his name and my life with him each and every day. And yes that means the good and the bad, the ups and the downs. If all we shared was the good, then how would we ever know the depth of our love? Looking back, taking inventory of our life, our love and our future together, I know more than ever I want to grow old with this man. I have no doubt as the years continue to pass we’ll look back, knowing we’ve lived an amazing life together side by side. And you know what? I’d choose Johnny again and again, “and I’d choose him in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality I’d find him and I’d choose him.” Yes Johnny is the love of my life. He’s my perfect match. He challenges me, encourages me, frustrates me and always insists I confront my insecurities. And why does he do this? Honestly, so I’m always true to myself. He’s not without flaws, but then neither am I. He’s still got a wild streak in him, keeping me on my toes. He drives me nuts many times but that’s not always a bad thing either. He makes me laugh, sometimes he's the reason I cry but mostly he brings joy and balance into my life. He reminds me who I am. Not who I think I am but who I really am underneath all the makeup, education and pretense. Why, simple because Johnny loves the woman I have become, not just the girl I was when our stars first aligned. He knows me, and has seen my best and my worst. I have seen the same in him and still we’ve both stayed side by side. You see happiness isn’t something we just find in life. Nope, happiness is something you build together.

Ecclesiastes 9:9 says “Enjoy life with the one you love.” This is God’s advice, straight outta the Bible. So why do we make things so complicated? It’s simple really, enjoy life, and take it all in, the good with the bad with the one you love. Then as life lesson #99 says ~ give ém something to talk about. Life is too short, people will talk, so I say let them. Enjoy your life together and have fun, take chances, steal a kiss in public, make your kids cringe and then do it all over again tomorrow. I for one have no apologies to offer up when it comes to the love of my life. I’m his and he’s mine, and whatever else happens in-between is just part of the adventure. I’ve never doubted our love even if I've doubted myself. I guess you could say I’m a stubborn, sassy mess of a southern belle who doesn’t think twice when it comes to offering up a mystery, and a little something to figure out. Seriously, the real honest to God is my witness truth here is this: Johnny’s my peanut butter to my jelly, the blue in my sky,  water to my ocean, cherry to my sundae,  milk to my cookie, spring in my step, my best friend and the love of my life.  He’s made my life an adventure every day, taken me on an incredible journey, and most certainly given everyone something to talk about along the way.

Johnny, baby, talk or not talk, “I want to be with you till my last page.”  (A.R. Asher)

~Christina