To Love, Honor, and Cherish...

These are words we are all familiar with, but ones I have been thinking alot about lately. Most people who see or hear that phrase, think they know what it means. I think perhaps they see Love and Cherish, and think they understand it. I think perhaps it is the little thought of "Honor" that is the most powerful of the three. Honor, honorable, honest, they are not unfamiliar words to us but we tend to use them for reverence, rather than for our daily lives. When we get married, we think of how much we love our partner, how much we adore and cherish them. That is what our wedding day is all about, celebrating those things. The honor, I do not think we give as much thought to. What is really means to honor someone. I bring this up because I continue to hear about my "strength". My answer is always the same, I don't see it as strength, I just don't see any other option. When I make this observation, I have had more than one person comment, that certainly there are other options, and the one most chosen seems to be, "you could collapse, breakdown, fall apart, as others do." I reply with no hubris, "I do not view my behavior as strength, but their behavior as weakness." Recently I had someone telling me about a recent break up that they had. I told them that the one thing I know is that it is important to know the person you are with will be there to fight in the trenches with you. If they are not the kind of person who can be there in the worst of times, it is better to find out early. It is easy to be with someone when everything is going well, it is so much harder when you are thrown a curve ball, and you never know when they are coming. I think back to honor. I did and I do. I made that promise. To love, honor, and cherish. The loving and cherish are easy, especially in the good times. The honor, that is more complicated. To honor someone, what does that mean? To me that means, that I behave as he would want me to. As he would expect me to. It means that I take care of things in his absence. That I care for his children as he would wish me to. That I hold to his values and respect them. That I put the pieces of our life together to make the best foundation that I can for the girls. That I keep consistency in their lives as much as possible. To honor him means that I carry on as he would wish me to while he is unable to be with us. It means that I put aside my fears, my tears, and my pain, and I keep calm and carry on. He is an honorable man, and I will continue to honor him. To Love, Honor and Cherish him. I promised.