Happier days

Tonight was a great night for running. The thunderstorms scattered just long enough, the sun broke the clouds apart so mildly, and the humidity waned and cooled so refreshingly that there was no way that I could not run this evening. Even the hills did not daunt me.

The neighborhood I am staying in this summer is a fairly old development, and the sidewalks are periodically mounded up by victorious tree-roots pressing through. The houses do not swallow the surrounding ecosystem; people have made their mark here, but it is not a destructive, desecrating one. Merely seven miles from downtown Atlanta, such harmony can exist. At times like this, as I was running tonight and ducking beneath limbs and breathing air that smelled fresh at least, I am encouraged that the planet has a fighting chance.

Bob and I have found an activity to be engaged in together this summer, even though we're apart. We're writing a story together. "Writing" is a bit of a misnomer, because we're still early in the planning phases and have not actually written any of the story's text yet. We have been profiling the characters and working out the kinks of the plot. It's actually an idea he had that we've been stewing over for awhile, and now we're both getting excited about it. We have been chatting online about it, often in character to get a sense of their voices; and while such a medium is far from an intimate way to spend time with one's spouse, we have found that it actually works really well for this purpose because we can record a transcript of all that's been said, which we can build on later. And being excited about the story helps to soothe the pain of being apart so much.

We're actually not separated as much as we could be. We had a wonderful weekend together, and Bob has promised to come visit me in Atlanta once or twice a week. It's just difficult to spend days at a time apart when I have grown to love his presence so much. But as he keeps telling me, and as I well know, in times like this I have to turn to God and allow Him to comfort me when my husband is not there. And I have to rely on His strength to carry me every day. When Bob and I got married, one of the scriptures we had read at our wedding was Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, which talks about the goodness of being bound to another person. The last phrase of that passage is, A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Bob and I are each a strand, but the third strand in our cord is the Lord. And as long as we stay bound faithfully to each other and to Him, then I believe He will bring us through every trial we face. And at the end of this summer, our marriage will be stronger because we will have learned to rely on God first.

So my life has gotten more and more bearable over the past week, as I've become more comfortable with my job and grown stronger about being away from Bob. Tomorrow Bob is coming to town, and we will be cooking a yummy-looking baked salmon dish for the family. More to come on that!