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Just Wait and See…

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Once upon a time, there lived a boy and a girl who loved each other at a very young age. They loved each other so much that the boy asked the girl to be his wife, and she said yes. Even though neither of them knew the first thing about being a husband or a wife.

“They’re too young!” the townspeople cried. “It’s too hard to be married when you’re too young!”

But the boy and the girl just held hands and walked down the aisle like stupid, young people in love do.

“We’ll just have to wait and see…” they said.

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Not long after, the boy and the girl moved across the country to make their brains smarter at graduate school. They worked long hours and studied every minute they had.

“Newlyweds should be having picnics and eating bon bons,” the townspeople cried. “It’s too hard to be married when you have other priorities!”

But the boy and the girl continued to study and work hard, and no matter how busy they got, they made sure their feet found each other at night when they laid down.

“We’ll just have to wait and see…” they said.

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Finally, the boy and the girl felt like they had made themselves as smart as they ever could, and they graduated.

“What’s next?” asked the boy.

“A house,” said the girl.

And so the boy and the girl took their shiny new paychecks and bought a beautiful little house. Though they were far away from their family, the boy and the girl were so very happy in this new little house.

“Couples so young should not settle down so early. The suburbs are for old people!” the townspeople cried. “It’s too hard to be married when you have so many things left to experience!”

But the boy and the girl decided they would just experience the things everyone in their 20’s should experience, but they would experience them together. They traveled, they went to bars, they stayed out past their bedtime, they hung out with their old friends, and they made new friends. They even got drunk and locked themselves out of their pretty new house in a snowstorm. Yes, the boy and the girl lived up their 20’s even though they were married.

“Maybe this isn’t what married people are supposed to do,” the girl whispered to the boy.

But the boy just shrugged.  “We’ll just have to wait and see…” he said.

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After a year or so, the boy and the girl got tired of all that running around.

“Being young and fun is exhausting,” the girl said. “Let’s have a baby instead.”

“But we don’t know anything about babies,” the boy said.

“Well, we can learn,” the girl said.

“Okay,” said the boy.

So the boy and the girl had a beautiful baby boy. They named him Michael, and they spent their days staring at his toes and kissing on his cheeks and blubbering his tummy and they thought to themselves, “This isn’t so hard!”

But the townspeople shook their heads and whispered behind their backs, “Having a baby is very hard on a marriage. And they are so young to be parents!”

The boy and the girl heard their whispers and the girl said to the boy in the middle of a long, sleepless newborn night, “Do you think this is too hard for our marriage?”

“We’ll just have to wait and see…” said the boy.

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Another year went by and the boy and the girl decided it was time to sell their pretty little house and move back closer to their family. So they packed up and headed south.

“Moving to a new place with a young family is very difficult,” the townspeople warned. “It will be very hard on your marriage.”

And for once, the townspeople were right! Moving WAS hard on their marriage.

“Is this too hard?” the boy asked the girl.

“I don’t know,” she said. “We’ll just have to wait and see…”

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The boy and the girl battled many terrible dragons as they built their new life in this new land. They had to find jobs, health insurance, a safe place to live, and sometimes with all that responsibility pressing down on them, it was hard to remember to hold hands and make sure their feet found each other at night when they went laid down. And just as the boy and the girl began to feel like maybe the townspeople had been right all along, another tiny pink dragon came along. They named her Gracie.

“She is so perfect and I love her so much, but what are we ever going to do about our chaotic little lives?” cried the girl. “How will we ever get back to normal?”

“We’ll just have to wait and see…” said the boy.

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Eventually, the boy and the girl slayed all those pesky dragons they were battling and life settled down a wee bit for them. But no matter how peaceful and normal things got, the girl could not be happy.

“I think I lost my smile,” she said to the boy.

“Then I will help you find it,” he replied.

But the townspeople just shook their head. “It is no use. This is too much change in too short of a period of time,” they said. “It is too hard on a marriage to balance a new life and a new family while you hunt for a smile. It will be too hard on your marriage.”

“Maybe,” the boy said. “We’ll just have to wait and see…”

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The boy and the girl searched for many months trying to find her smile. They looked all over their old life back in the days before they moved to their new town. They looked all over their family. They looked all over their new jobs and friends and church. But they still could not find the smile. And then one day, it came back all of a sudden.

“I have been hiding right here inside your own marriage,” the smile said. “I’ve been waiting for you to hold hands and push forward like you used to do, or for your feet to find each other at night when you laid down. But you never thought to look for me inside your own marriage, and so I stayed hidden. I am so glad you finally remembered where your smiles live!”

And for once, the townspeople had nothing to say. Because who can argue with a smile?

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Years went by and the boy and the girl grew older, and so did their babies. And their lives were marked by diaper bags and daycare and dinner together around a kitchen table. They moved into a new house and the boy said to the girl, “This will be our forever house.” And the girl agreed because forever houses are the best kind of houses.

And then one sunny day, the boy and the girl heard some terrible news.  The girl’s dad had died, and their lives would never be the same. Such sadness filled their hearts. Such sorrow filled their lives. And in the darkest moments of grief, the girl would whisper to the boy, “Will we ever get through this?” And the boy held her hand, lowered his head, and sighed, “We’ll just have to wait and see…”

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It was hard for the girl because she was so sad, and it was hard for the boy to see her so sad. But every day they woke up holding hands, and every night their feet found each other under the covers when they laid down. And when the sadness came, they put their arms around their children and each other and they waited.

And they waited.

And they waited.

And they waited.

But no matter how long they waited, they always found that when the storm had passed, they were still standing with their arms around each other.

One day the girl said to the boy, “You have never left my side. No matter what we have faced, you have stood right here next to me. My life is better because you hold my hand. My heart is full because you fill it with love. I don’t know how my life could be blessed any more than it already is by having you here with me.”

And the boy smiled and said to the girl, “We’ll just have to wait and see…”

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