My Parent's Reconciliation Vacation (excerpt from Proverbial Woman), Part XVI

What I’m getting at is that we have been through so much together. And I’m almost certain what we are experiencing now will be of an even greater challenge. What I’m trying to say is, as we walk this journey we should never forget that inside of us there is a far greater place to conquer. It is there where we will find the strength to get us down the road we are facing.

So, as a gesture of my love and what we’ve been through, and as a reminder that you don’t have to walk alone through this challenging journey of uncertainty, I give to you this anklet to remind you that you are not alone, but with the heart of two…Yours and mine.”

“Thank you,” she whimpered, as she struggled to hold back her tears. “And don’t forget what this represents,” she added, as she reached up and tenderly touched the locket.

“Yes. And they are two more reasons why we have to beat this.”

“We got to have faith,” she added, as she reached for his hands and smiled.

“Yes. We must have faith,” he replied, tenderly interlocking their fingers.

Faced with what could be the most defining period of their lives, for the first time in their marriage they feel resigned beyond their vowels. Torn between his need to forgive her, and fear of what lies ahead, he realize it is going to take much more than what he has to offer to see them through.

Not always finding the true purpose life grants us. There are times the temperament of our hearts can change without motive. It is in the wake of those changes that we learn what commitment is all about. Though sometimes pursuing the elusive happiness it promises, more times than we dare to admit we become victims of our own demise.

It is out this critical place of unsound reasoning that we shape our perception of love. A thought process that many of us arguably use as testimonial lessons serving as reminders, reiterating we should only feel what is best for us.  

Love is meant to exceed reason. And yet, though sometimes attributed to a foolish heart, defy logic. Though we resent the pain that comes along as part of the risk, it is the experienced joy that decreases all standing probabilities of hurtful occurrences. Love is good, though challenging. It is a journey, a lifetime of discovery through peaks and valleys. It is a gift protecting the faint at heart. And yet triumphantly enduring.

My father embraced its beauty and experienced its powers at its most paramount stage. By accepting the weight of its burden, he has spiritually grown into something far more priceless than what we hold at value.  

With a forgiving nature serving as a thread that mends all of what has been torn apart, that which he gives will ultimately become the lifelong comforter of his own pain. With time serving the optimum healer, his wounds will heal according to the way he wears the badge of his scars.

Still kneeling before her while realizing nothing comes of a scornful heart but ill-gotten intentions, intimately peering up at her he whispered, “You could always tempt me with those insatiable eyes of yours.”

“I hope you never decide let go of me. I love you so much,” she whispered, as she reached for the bottle of moisturizer that sat beside her.  

Slowly lifting himself from his knees as he turned and sat on the bed beside her, out of the quietness of the moment he released a fainting sigh. Removing the towel from around her upper body, slowly she started applying some around her breast region.

“Think I can get you to oil my back?” she asked.

“Yeah, sure.” he answered.

As she proceeded down around her waist and thighs, in a moment of imbalance he leaned forward and placed his head in his hands. At what appeared as a fainting sigh, in a strained tone he audibly exhaled.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah. I’m fine,” he answered, as he briefly thought to himself, ‘How can I bring myself to intimately touch her without thinking about his hands all over her.’”

“Tim. Tell me what’s on your mind?” she sniped.

“I’m sorry.