While running errands with my husband, wishing I could drive, the phrase ‘in sickness and in health’ popped into my head. I thought about the medical challenges we recently faced, his cardiac crisis and my vision loss. Although he and I confronted those obstacles together, we were certainly not alone.
Those five words, part of traditional wedding vows, apply to my closest friendships as well as my marriage. We haven’t stood in front of our loved ones in a special ceremony, wearing a beautiful dress, pledging our love and lifelong promise and yet our dedication to each other is just as strong.
Social and religious doctrines lead us down the aisle to the person we have decided to spend our lives with, while our hearts also quietly bring us to these equally important and enduring partnerships with our best friends. Without the grand ceremony of a wedding and reception, we enter into these relationships over crayons and recess, study hall and cafeteria lunches, college dorms, corporate desks and the legendary water cooler, our kids’ schools. We go out for a drink, then dinner, the spa, we text all day, every day, we take girls trips together. We appreciate each other, we love each other. We share good times and bad times, for as long as we both shall live.
Do I think that’s a commitment? I do.
