32 Days

She's been gone for 17 of them, and somehow the relationship keeps getting better! Distance does make the heart grow fonder but this is also the nitty gritty - she is the most wonderful person to interact with day-to-day. The best part is, it's been that way for two years! Looking back though - ha - if only my 'back then' self could look ahead to now, to see what 'wonderful' is really all about.

That of course leaves me with saying the same thing two years from now, and I can only imagine what I will be saying and feeling then.

As my favorite country singer says so well,

We've come so far since that day, and I thought I loved you then

Yes Jennifer, we have come so far. It has been an inspiring, challenging, beautiful trip. I love learning with you, about you, and because of you.

By some accounts we are only one month in, but hey, you got to start somewhere.

Jennifer you fill my life with joy, passion, mystery, intrigue, and laughter and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Stretching my arms across the continents and miles, just to feel you reaching back...I miss you dear lady.

May our lives both individually and together reflect the glory of Christ in every area of life.

Fundamental Contradiction Between Sex and Love?

What I don't understand about sex is the fundamental contradiction it poses to love. While love deepens with time and shared experience, sex is stifled by relationship and routine. It seems to thrive most through novelty rather than intimacy, through new flesh rather than old love. Sex is the quintessential expression of love. We even call it lovemaking. So, why are so many couples who are so deeply in love with each other, after so many years of being together, utterly sexless? Why must couples choose between being lovers and being best friends, between being passionate and being intimate? King Solomon proclaims in his famous Song that there is a love like fire and a love like water, and it seems that one cancels the other out. The fiery love of sex and erotic passion becomes more and more muted through the more watery love of marital routine, familial patterns, and an increasing number of anniversaries celebrated. Why can't sex and love go absolutely hand in hand, as they should?

-Rabbi Shmuley Boteach