I’ve been thinking of weddings and love and romance and marriage a very much lot these days, in spite of myself. I suppose it comes of reading the Anne of Green Gables series again; they make me dreadfully romantic and sentimental. As I read the books with an adult eye, I recognize how very much I subconsciously identified with Anne's dryadic, artistic soul as a child, and it makes me smile.

But here, I wanted to write down this quote so that I don’t forget it. Anne is coming down the stairs to meet Gilbert on their wedding day, and he worries he is not worthy of her, but:

“. . . as she held out her hand, their eyes met and all doubt was swept away in a glad certainty. They belonged to each other; and, no matter what life might hold for them, it could never alter that. Their happiness was in each other’s keeping and both were unafraid.”
- L.M. Montgomery, in Anne’s House of Dreams.

Both were unafraid. That’s so beautiful, isn’t it? Not just the words, although they do catch at my heart, but the thought itself. To be unafraid of a long, unknown life together; to know and believe and trust that your partner in life is exactly that; to absolutely feel how perfectly happy you are and will be; with no fears, no unsaid words, no misunderstandings, because all is safe and said and understood.

I do not long hopelessly for such things anymore. I do not long, because I finally understand.

I am unafraid.