Sacred Spaces

One of my favorite places to be is sitting on my front porch with my wife on a cool summer night. It's not so much that I love concrete, or that I have a thing for people-watching, but my wife and I enjoy a very full life, and the front porch is where we wind down together.

Each spring, as summer approaches, we get excited as the days get longer and we know that our porch days are fast approaching. Sometimes we jump the gun and head outside in wrapped in robes and blankets, trying to thwart Mother Nature and enjoy porchtime beginning in May when the bitter winds would have it otherwise. Those nights we only last ten or fifteen minutes, even with a hot chocolate.



Now Mary and I are about to complete ten years of being married and sealed at the end of this summer, and for those of you who don't know what that means - it means that our marriage has been sealed for time and all eternity in a holy temple by one having the authority of God to perform such a sealing. In other words, our marriage, and our relationship does not end with "death do us part" - it is meant to be so much more than that. It is an eternal marriage, one without end and unchained by the bonds of death. Likewise, our children are sealed to us as a family and we are on our way to being a forever family.

I can't tell you what a blessing that is in my life. Having the knowledge that families are forever is a game-changer. It changes the way that I want to treat my wife, my children, how I want to parent. It reminds me that we are all eternal beings and forms my perspective on how we as humans should treat eachother.

But this is not about my gratitude for eternal marriage, or for my family. Rather it is about my sweet wife Mary. As I mentioned we are going on ten years this November, and in the past decade we have become one. She is much more than my counselor, my financial advisor, my cheerleader, my business partner, my girlfriend, a total hottie, and the Mother of my children. She is also my closest and dearest friend. I love her with all my heart, and with everything that I am.

Now, you can see why I look forward each summer to sitting on my porch with my best friend. It is a sacred space; one where stories are told, experiences are related, and dreams shared. It is somewhere I go seeking peace at the end of a long day and being validated.