part three: relationship series: loving through

this week's relationship series topic is loving through. be sure to check out what gina and morgan have to say, and please link up below!
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i met robert on the heels of summer. it was hot and i wore denim shorts on our first date at the putt-putt course. that autumn, we slow danced under a big oak tree on the old schoolhouse square while the big band played and i told him what each charm on my bracelet meant.

we've shared eight summers since then. nine winters. one semester in college, we shared a spring of discontent. when a poster of jessica alba on a dorm room wall was enough to undo me.

we're young. we stay up late and sleep in on the weekends. we wrestle on the carpet with our dog and eat supper on the porch swing when it's nice out. it's fair weather. a breeze outside an old open window. a sunny morning melting into a bright afternoon

but there will be other winters.

there will be nights when our kids are late coming home and we stay up worried together. when i lie against him in the flannel sheets and cry so hard it's silent when loved ones grow old. when pets start walking slower and daughters start driving.

there will be other winters.

so we store up the summers, and even the springs. and on nights when it's dark and we're faced with the fact that life is happening at a rate much too fast for our little hearts to bear, we slowly release the heat. the light and the warmth. and we continue, fueled by our stored sun.