One of the most beautiful quotes I've ever heard...

"Living as a couple never means that each gets half.  You must take turns at giving more than getting.  It's not the same as a bow to the other whether to dine out rather than in, or which one gets massaged that evening with oil of calendula; there are seasons in the life of a couple that function, I think, a little like a night watch.  One stands guard, often for a long time, providing the serenity in which the other can work at something.  Usually that something is sinewy and full of spines.  One goes inside the dark place, while the other one stays outside, holding up the moon."

~ from A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena De Blasi

It's just beautiful.  I think of Steven, who has held up the moon for me so many times while I cried at the unfairness of life.  I think of his warm, clear brown eyes that looked at me last night with such love as I had another moment of freakout about our future, as he knelt down in front of me and said, "Christine, I won't let us believe lies.  I'm always going to take care of you.  And I am going to lead our family in the direction of truth, in the direction of Christ."

Christ has sent him as a guard to stand outside my life, and what an honor it is in those moments I get to stand outside his.