My husband is getting gray hair.
I first noticed this fact several months after we had gotten married. We were lying in bed and I noticed the glimmer from the gray strand of hair. I told him, "Oh, wow! You've got a gray hair!" He then joked that it was the marriage stressing him so badly that he was going gray. We laughed, but in that moment my heart burst and I loved my husband even more.
You see, my husband is getting gray hair and it makes me love him more. Not because I think gray hair is attractive, but because of what I think the gray hair symbolizes.
To me, grey hair is a beautiful symbol of life.
One of the most inevitable factors of life is that we are all going to get old. Gray hair is just a normal part of that unavoidable fact.
When I first noticed my husband had gray hair, I smiled because that is what life is all about. You grow up. You get older. Then somewhere along the way you fall in love with someone you think is incredible and you share your life with them.
I met my husband right after I turned 20 and just before he turned 28. That was 7 years ago. Sometimes it doesn't feel like it was really that long ago, but it was.
Now that we've traveled 7 years down the road, hand-in-hand, we both have a lot to show for it. My husband doesn't just have gray hair on his head, it's also in his beard. I love to tug at the glimmering little tuffs of gray and laugh. He also has little wrinkles on the sides of his eyes. I'm not stating all of this to point out my husband's imperfections. I do not think of him as any less of a man or think he is getting old, even though I do tease him about it. I simply look at these tell-tale signs as proof that we are living out our lives together.
While my husband has gray hair and little wrinkles by his eyes, the truth is that so do I. Well, I don't have gray hair... that I know of since I dye my hair every two weeks. I do, however, have new wrinkles forming. I'm also not as fit as I used to be because my metabolism isn't what it once was.
The beautiful point of it all? We're getting older. We're doing it together. How precious is it to fall in love and just enjoy growing old with someone you love dearly? A lot of people don't get to enjoy this beautiful, simple wonder. So many people try to avoid growing old or they take it for granted. Me? I marvel at it.
I love my husband with his gray hair and wrinkles, just like I know he loves me with the extra 10lbs I carry around my waist and thighs.
Why? Because his gray hair is a sign of all the stressful situations we will have to deal with throughout our marriage. It's a sign that even though we have gone through trying times, we stay together and fight through it to the very end. His wrinkles are just a constant reminder of all the many laughs we share daily. Whether it's laughter from something ridiculous I said or some funny cat video we're watching. The extra weight is just a sign of all the time we have cooked dinner together or gone out for Dairy Queen, even though we swore we weren't having any sweets for the week.
These are all just beautiful little reminders of how truly special it is to share your life with someone you love and enjoy growing old together. We may be different people now. We look and act differently, but one thing has remained the same... our love for one another and how much we adore growing old together.
So if your husband is getting gray hair, tell him that it just makes you love him even more.