Looking at these pictures of Mom and Dad reminds me of a part in Anne Morrow Lindbergh's book Gift From the Sea. I think it is such a beautiful way to look at love and marriage.
Yes, I believe the oyster shell is a good one to express the middle years of marriage. It suggests the struggle of life itself. The oyster has fought to have that place on the rock to which it has fitted itself perfectly and to which it clings tenaciously. So most couples in the growing years of marriage struggle to achieve a place in the world. It is a physical and material battle first of all, for a home, for children, for a place in their particular society... In these years one recognizes the truth of Saint-Exupery's line: "Love does not consist in gazing at each other (one perfect sunrise gazing at another!) but in looking outward together in the same direction." For, in fact, man and woman are not only looking outward in the same direction; they are working outward. (Observe the steady encroachment of the oyster bed over the rock.) Here one forms ties, roots, a firm base...
3 comments:
Hooray For C & K! I like that book too.
Hey Laura -
Congratulations to your mom and dad. I love what you wrote about marriage, it is so true - sometimes we have to forget about seeing eye to eye - we need to focus on seeing the same goal, or as you wrote, looking outward together in the same direction."
:) happy anniversary to your mom and dad!! my parents just celebrated their 40th ~ its so wonderful when marriages like our parents' exist :) xox
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