Darling Sylvia, We are better together. We are like a hot cup of Earl Grey tea with four drops of honey better. You have helped me to learn the lost art of speaking for self. When needed, you wave your hand in the air and ask to stop the action long enough to have a couple dialogue. If it is possible, we sit down knee to knee, hand to hand, and heart to heart. In assuming the dialogue position, both of us honor the we that we cherish.

The knee-to-knee dialogue position forces me to look directly into your beautiful blue eyes and remember that the we is what both of us cherish.  The trust found in that position helps us do this marriage thing better. We have a body memory of how to behave with each other in the dialogue position. Over the years, we have had many caring and helpful conversations in this space. The knee to knee has given us a safe place through the many highs and lows that life together has brought.

Now, after years of practice using the dialogue position, I can acknowledge that I have feelings that at one time I did not know existed. Mad, sad and glad were once the only words in my feelings vocabulary. With your help, that list  has expanded exponentially; go figure. Using I messages keeps me honest and encourages me to bring to the dialogue what I want with a clear responsibility to honor the we. We are better together.

Roses are red and violets are blue, Angels in heaven know I love you.

Eddie Bert