My Relationship with Matthew
When I sat down to come up with the list of my 10 favorite things about France, this was the first thing that came to my mind. I won't lie, when Matthew and I accepted the opportunity to move to France, I was a little worried about what the stress of living in a foreign country would do to our marriage. We were moving, by far, the furthest I had ever lived from my family and friends. I didn't (still don't!) speak the language. I gave up my job, and was really worried that I would feel like the money we had was now "Matthew's", since he was the only one bringing home a paycheck. I have always heard that finances cause some of the biggest problems in marriages.
There have been some stressful times, but more than anything, this experience has truly shown me what an amazing man I am married to. We have grown so much closer since our move. And for those of you who don't know, Matthew and I were high school sweethearts. We dated for 6 years before getting married, and we had been married for 3 years when we moved to France. So we knew each other pretty well already! But, the time here has given us beaucoup de quality time together and it has taught us to rely (heavily at times!) on only each another.
At our rehearsal dinner the night before our wedding, my uncle Bill gave a toast that, at the time, I had a hard time fully understanding. He told us that his wish for us was that after being married 50 years, he hoped we would look back to our wedding day and realize it was the day we loved each other the least. The least? That seemed like such an odd thing to say for a marriage toast! He went on to explain that he hoped our love for each other would grow everyday. As I sat listening, in my full bridal glow, I didn't think that it was humanly possible to love Matthew anymore than I did in that moment. Later that night, I was still thinking about it, and it made so much sense. You wouldn't want to look back after 50 years of marriage and realize on your wedding day you loved each other the most! That would mean it would be all down hill after the wedding!
Matthew and I will celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary this June. I can honestly say that I love him more today than the day I married him. I think I owe a lot of that to France. Even with 10+ years of memories, some of my favorites have been made here in France. Strolling through the market on Saturday mornings, with absolutely nothing else on our agenda for the day. Traveling and discovering big cities and little villages together. Taking a blanket and a book to the park on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and alternate between reading and napping in the sunshine. Simply enjoying each others company, like every evening when Matthew comes home, he stands in the kitchen and we tell each other about our day while I cook dinner. One special memory that comes to mind was the first winter we lived here. We woke up one Saturday morning to snow. We both grew up in the south, so we weren't used to seeing a lot of snow. It had snowed all night, and showed no signs of letting up. We opened up the shades to our bedroom window, and spent all morning cuddled up, warm and snug in our bed, watching the snow fall. I'm not saying that we couldn't have had made the same memory in the US, but here, we seem to do a lot more things like that. This type of thing is the norm, not the exception. The pace of life is so much slower, there is no rush, no yard to mow or weeds to pull, no over-packed social calendar, just time to enjoy each other.
For this, J'aimerais toujours la France.
(et Matthew aussi, bien sûr!)
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