Musings on marriage

I am finding an intriguing pattern in my blog postings. Starting with this one and progressing all the way through to this one, isn't it interesting how themes of marriage, singleness, and divorce continue to weave their way through my thoughts and into my writing? I can conjecture as to why this is, but that's sort of beside the point right now. It just is.

I got a phone call last night from my friend Karen, announcing her engagement to a reportedly wonderful man named Scott. Although I've yet to meet him, I am so excited for them. It's been fun to hear about their "whirlwind" romance. When Karen was in Pittsburgh in February to attend the CCO's annual Jubilee conference, they had not yet met. They made their engagement official this past Saturday and are hoping to marry in October or November. How quickly our lives can change!

Today, as I was doing a Google search for a particular writer, Margie Haack, I stumbled upon the latest issue on the online catapult magazine, where one of her articles is published. In the sidebar of the catapult homepage, this introduction appears:

Summer schedules usually include at least one wedding or anniversary party, hence issue of musings on marriage.

"Coming Down Now" is the title of Margie's offering, and the teaser in the table of contents reads: "Learning to live together in a house built on a foundation of public promises."

Barbara Zielinski writes a poignant piece entitled "The death of a marriage." It starts like this:

There was no ceremony for the death of my marriage. There was no casket in which to place the dreams and ideals I had held so close for so long. There were no mourners to shed tears with me as I said goodbye to the last of my hope. There was no ritual way of asking for forgiveness, for experiencing forgiveness, for being released from my vows. Nor was there much attention paid to the process of divorce—and all of the pain and anger and humiliation it added to the weight of my soul. There was no ceremony when my marriage was buried.

As I continue to follow the thread of this theme, I commend to you these articles, and the others in this issue.