Before enlightenment chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.~Zen Proverb

Today Giovanni and I celebrate nineteen years of marriage. Our relationship carries the amalgam of vibrant romance, brazen conflict and two wildly different cultures. And we remain together despite this conglomeration of fragrance and thorns.

We are in Giovanni's country. Last week we rode the motorcycle across the Italian countryside. Fields of tomatoes flashed past us--red orbs gleaming amidst verdant meadows. Tractors amended the earth. Lavender mountains sat propped against the horizon, sun sliding onto their glorious faces. Castle turrets soared into cerulean skies.  Still our love story unfurls across the years.

Yet marriage is deeply anointed by the oil of incremental daily steps.

Staying within the budget, grocery shopping, working, doing the laundry, tolerating differences, turning toward each other on the days when life is uneventful, bearing burdens for one another when life is unpredictable, taking risks to keep moving forward when chopping the wood and carrying the water feels like too much. This is love. This is romance.

And then just yesterday we traveled to Lago d'Iseo to attend an organ concert by a brilliant young man, Alessandro Chiantoni. The music echoed throughout the church and seemed to vibrate through our bodies as we listened to the inspiration of Bach and Handel. A day of enlightenment amidst the quotidian. God's gift to us.

I suppose marriage, and really, all of life, is continuing to climb the steps of our days recognizing and savoring the glittering moments and simultaneously being grateful and diligent to appreciate the wood God gives us to chop. The water He gives us to carry.