Will You Still Love Me When I'm. . .

A woman reading I'm Too Young to Be This Old commented, "In chapter four, you asked the question that often I want to ask my husband: Will you still love me when I'm. . .and then I add whatever concern or circumstance I fear most at the time."I believe that women in mid-life marriages can face their changing lives with a spirit of fun and fearlessness. I've looked in the mirror and wondered who that older looking woman was, caught a glimpse of my adult children and found myself surprised they were so grown-up, watched my parents grow old, and seen my friend age "prematurely." I wrote this book for women like me, who want these years to be the best of our lives.One of the questions women fifty and over often wonder about is, "Will he still love me when I'm older?" Here's a picture of me and my husband enjoying two of the little ones we love - and yes, he still loves me.My Valentine gift to you today is an excerpt from I'm Too Young To Be This Old (Chapter 4):I set my suitcase on the floor of the hotel room and closed the door with a sigh of relief. The telephone startled me. Who could be calling me . . . here in Melbourne, Australia? I knew my husband, Jim, was coming from Sydney to meet me, but our eagerly anticipated rendezvous was still three days away.Puzzled, I reached for the telephone. “Hi!” a familiar voice said. “How are you?”“Jim!” I responded with surprise. “Where are you? I thought you were in the middle of the outback.”“I’m in the lobby,” he said with a laugh. “We must have missed each other. I’ve been waiting for you to get here from the airport for over an hour. I’ll come up right away.”Feeling like a girl about to see the date of her dreams, I rushed to the door. Waving excitedly from the second-floor balcony, I watched as my husband of twenty-seven years strode across the parking lot toward the stairway, looking, at least to me, like an American version of Crocodile Dundee.In the four weeks I had been traveling and speaking to women all across Australia, we had seen each other once. We couldn’t wait to be together again.Mid-life marriage—shimmering with romance and bubbling with excitement. A perfect blend of independence and intimacy, affirmation and emotional satisfaction. Sounds like an advertisement for discount weddings at a Las Vegas chapel. But let’s be honest. Shimmering with romance and bubbling with excitement don’t always describe marriage in mid-life.We'll end the excerpt here, but let me say that even the warmest of marriages can at times become icy.It's your turn to fill in the blank: Will you still love me when I'm _____________________________?What is your greatest concern about your mid-life marriage? If' you'd like to share it privately, you can email me at poppy@poppysmith.com. Or, you can share by leaving a comment.If you'd like to read I'm Too Young to be This Old, here are some ordering links:To order directly from me: http://bit.ly/YXq8tAOr from Amazon: http://amzn.to/UeYppnYou can survive and thrive in the muddled middle years!Blessings, Poppy SmithInternational speaker, multi-published author, Bible teacher, and spiritual coachInspiring Women to Thrive!  Permission to use this article is granted provided the following credit is fully included.Poppy Smith is funny, warm, and passionate about helping women grow spiritually and personally so they experience the love and power of Christ in life’s ups and downs. A former teaching leader with Bible Study Fellowship, Poppy has a Masters in Spiritual Formation and ministers extensively as a retreat and conference speaker both in the US and around the world. For more information about Poppy’s heart, her books and ministry, please visit her website at www.poppysmith.com.