Words for the Journey

This blog post comes as a request by my beloved sister in law. Love ya, Jess! Yesterday the two of us had the opportunity to witness a most beautiful wedding ceremony in downtown Fayetteville. While we were waiting for everything to start Jess was telling me about the difficulty she had in finding an appropriate wedding card. Among all the choices on the shelves she couldn't find a single one to express the words she had in her heart for the couple. Things like "many years of happiness" and "everything you deserve and more" seem wonderful, but shallow when referring to the life altering covenant of marriage.
What do you say to a loved one embarking on a journey that should only end with death? I don't mean to sound morbid, but that's what marriage is...a never ending road. So many people enter into it with misconceptions. Marriage is no vacation, no pleasure cruise. When you are blessed enough to find the one you can link arms with and continue plodding forward, it is indeed a miraculous occasion. The burden of life is now a shared one. You will have paved roads and gravel, straightways and curvy, hills and valleys. Sometimes you will have a fine tuned vehicle and at other times you may find yourself broke down on the side of the road. The wonder of marriage is not the absence of trouble, but the beauty of having someone to walk with. Put that in a hallmark card!