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| Visiting the LDS Temple in Frankfurt, Germany. |
In eleven years of marriage we have spent a number of anniversaries apart. This year we arranged our celebration to coincide with a business trip, so as to avoid another near-miss. It seemed like a perfect plan, but in execution proved highly problematic.
We spent a few days in Germany visiting the Christmas markets and the LDS Temple. Our time was lovely, perfect even; but at home the children were devastated by our absence, which led to profuse mourning, apparent psychological damage, and, ultimately, physical impairment. We have never seen such a breakdown among our own.
So while I was anticipating an island of peace in a hectic season, the trip for us evokes a distinct duality of both very positive and very negative emotions that coexist, and they cannot be separated. And I have been musing on that duality ever since.
I have often come across this exact duality in my own life and marriage. The very things which we build up and work for are the very things which break down and exhaust us. That sounds a little fatalistic, but I think you get the general idea.
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