The young couple in the store...

I was shopping (childless, woohoo!) today at Target when I happened upon a familiar scene. A young couple, probably early 20's were walking hand in hand past the infant clothing area. The young woman stops short, reaches out for some cute little outfit and starts saying what I can only assume was "oooo how cute, don't you think..." to her boyfriend/husband. And the young man just pulls on her arm to get her to go where ever they were originally headed. They were young and athletic, I remember looking at the girls "work out" outfit and wondered if she had actually worked out or if that was just the style she was wearing. Regardless, the outfit aside, the scene was familiar because 5 years ago, that was Eric and I. He knew right away that I was obsessed with everything baby. If there was a baby in a room with a social gathering it was about a minute before I was next to said infant and its mother or father seeing if I could hold the baby. Anyway, when I saw them I was thinking "do they have any idea what lays ahead of them?" and the answer of course is no. Eric and I couldn't have known we'd have infertility, that we'd lose a baby, that we would someday be considering adoption. Most couples meet, fall in love, get married, and go on to their careers or to have the families they dreamed of. Lucky couples get both. Others get the raw end of the deal. And its hard. Infertility and infant loss is hard. Some couples don't make it through the hard times likes this and divorce and try again with partner #2. And some couples, like us, grow closer to each other and to family and friends because of it. The young couple was just that. Young. Young in their ages, young in their relationship. Will they be together still in 10 years? Well, Eric and I are fast approaching 5 years of marriage and I'm certain that 5 years from now we still will be married. And we will have whatever family God intends for us to have. So to the young couple, my best advice is this: I don't have any. I'm not eloquent, I'm not strong, I'm not perfect, and I get things wrong sometimes. And sometimes, my husband isn't perfect either. And that's ok. We love each other and that's all we need :)