"Love" Print

I have to tell you about the framed print that hangs on the East end of the room below. I met Brian when I was a very young 16 years old. I was a part of the FBC youth group and the church organist and Brian came that summer as the youth and music minister. I didn't think much about him the first time I met him but by the third or fourth time I was around him, I knew that I loved him. I know what you think. I was just 16 and the whole thing could have just been puppy love, a crush. It could have ended just as easily as it has lasted these 37 years. I don't know about that. I do know I love him more as time goes by. I know I have never ever doubted for a second that our relationship has been blessed by God. I know I am where I am suppose to be.
We had begun dating by that fall and Brian wanted to give me a present when my 17th birthday came around. He went into a store and saw the print (I guess it's a poster) on the wall but couldn't find one in the bin. He asked the clerk who looked and told him that there weren't any more. I don't know if he removed it from the wall immediately or if he came back later. But, he did take the print, paid for it, and wrapped it for my birthday. I had it on the wall for a while in a different frame but eventually had a nice frame built for it. I like it very much. It reminds me of how young we were when we "began". We married just days after I graduated from high school.

Most things in this room have much more sentimental value that anything. My parents had the couch and chair in the 60's. They've been recovered but not lately. The closest round table/chairs is the one in the Blog header picture that was in my friend's Rhineland home. The table with the cloth was made by Brian's brother as a wedding gift. Years ago Brian built the tall chest with the punched tin doors which holds Christmas and other special dishes. The small trunk belonged to Brian's Dad and contains some very old letters that he and his family sent and received. The desk on the far wall is the first thing we bought as a couple, a desk from Ethan Allen, and my children sat at it when they were learning to print. It has lots of scars. The wooden sewing "bucket" behind the chair belonged to my Aunt Ret. She used it nearly every day. She created the most wonderful Christmas stocking for all of her family and some friends. I wish we knew how many. Her only son was one of the last people in the US to die of polio and she "mothered" the rest of us. Hers is one of the lovely faces that will be there to greet us... The other furniture was purchased at the "antique" stores. Some will have to be put elsewhere when we rearrange but not the "Love" print. It will be fun to pay bills, write letters, read books, and blog in the same room where my wonderfulest ever husband is preparing sermons and studying God's Word, preparing for whatever God has next for this aging couple of youngster.