An old fashioned kind of love...

It's the 1940s, a boy sees a girl from across the street.  Her smile is contagious....her laughter magnetic.  In an instant he knows she's the one for him.  Of course when he asks her out she tries multiple times to refuse.  The boy, in the same token, refuses to give up.  He sees her get on a ferris wheel with another guy and runs and leaps onto their seat.  When she refuses him yet again, he proceeds to dangle high above the ground in order to force her to say yes.  And from there, they proceed to fall madly in love.....a true passionate old fashioned kind of love.  Fast forward years later and we find this girl, now woman, has Alzheimers.  She has seemed to forgotten the love of her life and yet he continues to refuse to accept that and makes her fall for him over and over and over again. Until one day they lie down and drift off into heaven together....

We all know this story.  It's Nicholas Sparks book titled, "The Notebook".  Women, and let's be honest some men, fell head over heels in love with this story.  We fell deeply into each character.  We felt what they felt.  We cried when they cried and we laughed when they laughed.  Some may say we loved it so much because it was a beautifully written story.  And while I agree I also feel like we let it seep so deep into our souls because we all crave that earth shaking, knees quaking, no one else matters around you kind of love.  And not only that passionate, but a love that is so powerful it lasts until your final breath.  And not only until your final breath but also through all sorts of turmoil, heartache, and pain.  A love that is still felt even when one of your memory's slips away.  A real, honest, pure, simple, passionate, old fashioned kind of love.  In today's society.....in generations since that time, it just doesn't seem to happen when you look at the staggering statics of marriages.  Life it seems has gotten more complicated for families.  Both the husband and wife can easily both have booming careers outside the home.  Kids activities seem to clutter and fill up the schedule.  There's errands to run, chores to be done, functions to attend, meetings to go to....and it seems that the thing that takes the biggest hit is our relationships with our spouse.  We seem to take that relationship, that bond, that love for granted.  It's so easy to assume the will always be there for us.  They are married to us after all so they will have to wait.  Other things, other people, other stuff needs our attention more at whatever season we are at in our lives....

Recently, just a few weeks ago actually, Travis' beloved Papa passed away.  He lived to be the wonderfully old age of 92.  And by his side for almost 68 of those amazing years was his wife Lilian.  Can you even fathom that? When he was just 24 and she was just 18 they fell madly in love with each other.  And they never stopped.  They had their share of good times and bad.  They had 2 sons together and lived out their lives on the farm.  Ever since I started dating Trav I honestly don't think I ever saw one without the other.  With each glance they gave one another I saw the purest form of love I have ever seen.  The way he looked at her, his eyes danced.  I can just picture it in my mind as I close my eyes now.  When Travis would tell stories about the 2 of them he would say so many times how much they loved each other.  For the last several years we had said we didn't know how one would get along without the other.  They had that "Notebook" kind of love.  That love that society seems to view as a 'fairytale' these days.  We haven't been back to the farm since Papa's passing but I know how incredibly hard that day is going to be.  When we think of Papa and Grandma, we think of them as one unit.  They aren't 2 separate people in our minds.  They are 2 souls forever intertwined....

When I think of them, it makes my soul yearn....It makes my soul yearn and aspire to make sure that Travis and I have that old fashioned kind of love.  That love that people don't see much of these days it seems.  That love that intertwines us for eternity.  That love that makes people see us as one unit.  That love where if either one of us were to lose the other we wouldn't know how to go on nor would we want to live in that world.  A piece of us would forever be missing. 

In today's society we are told that we shouldn't depend on anyone like that.  Especially women are taught that.  That we need to be our own person and we need to take care of ourselves.  That we need to prove to society that we don't need a man in our lives to take care of us.  And men are taught that they need to prove that they don't need any women in their lives telling them what to do.  That marriage is a ball and chain relationship...

I tell you what ladies and gentlemen listen up.... I want that kind of love.  Society is lying to you once again.  That old fashioned kind of love is good for the soul.  That old fashioned kind of love works.  That old fashioned kind of love is the kind where the divorce rate isn't 1 out of every 2 marriages.  That old fashioned kind of love is the kind of love that God created for us all.  He wants us to feel that kind of love.  Our souls yearn for it.  It's why we love stories like the Notebook.  But they don't have to be just stories.  Love like that really exists out there.  Papa Donovan and Grandma Lillian are living proof of that.  I pray that Travis and I live to see 68 beautiful years together.  It's not going to be easy....but by God it's going to be WORTH it.  Find an inspirational couple in your own life and let them inspire you to do everything in your power to make sure you are fighting for them daily.  That that relationship is your top priority after Jesus.  Kids are amazing but they thrive when mommy and daddy are head over heels in love.  The busyness doesn't have to be so busy.  Carve out time for them.  Do unexpected things for them.  Pray for them.  And when life tries to bash the love out, dig in your heels and fight for them....

I want an old fashioned kind of love......the earth shaking, knees quaking, no one else matters around you kind of love......