We met seventeen years ago: an unlikely couple from vastly different backgrounds. We fell in love. Hard. He brought me here, 16.5 years ago to propose we start a life together: a life full of fun, laughter, anger, heartache, and tears. We rode out the bumps, tried our best to work through the anger, and celebrated the victories that came with bearing and raising two small children while building a business together.

And here we are.

Seventeen years later, we are back for a stolen sixteen hours on the heels of Mother’s day to remind each other why we are here: why we stay.

It’s easy to get caught up in the minutae of the day to day, easy to forget to pause and take a moment to check in with your partner, check in with yourself and say “This is why we take the sour with the sweet. This is why we are here. Together. Still”. That the good outweighs the bad, that growing and learning together produce inevitable scars but that the end result is worth it.

What is the key? Without love there is no foundation. Love is first, foremost and last. Love carries you. Love, and forgiveness.

Without forgiveness, we could not continue to love: to sustain each other through mutual dark hours, ugly moments, and spaces of sheer fucking stupidity. Forgiveness allows you to check in and reaffirm that yes, the love is still there, and because there is love, there will be forgiveness. And from the forgiveness blooms love.

A pretty place to meditate on the past seventeen years doesn’t hurt the process, either.