Two imperfect people got married

I read the whole book through today, doing the final edit, and it sounds like I'm some kind of perfect husband. Look, I'm not. I'm a very ordinary husband, but I try. I am aware of the distance between where I am and perfection. I did all those things I wrote about in the book. But it's hard to stay on top form every day. Recently we had a low spot. Nothing in particular. I was worried about business and became self-centred and obsessive. I dropped my love work rate. I'm still trying to get it up where it should be. The difference between the husband I am today and the husband I was in the bad old days is my awareness and my intention. Perfect Love is not perfect performance and bliss everyday. It's travelling in hope, knowing you're committed to each other. Committed to commitment, these were the words Warwick Marsh gave me yesterday. Someone had given them to him. When Louisa and I were in the dark days and things got hairy, I had a mantra: "I am committed to Marriage." I may not have been committed to Louisa (I was actually, but I was too hurt and scared to feel it or say it.) But commited to commitment. That's enough for me. We can work with that. We can come back from anything if we are that.

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"I didn't marry you because you were perfect. I didn't even
marry you because I loved you. I married you because you
gave me a promise. That promise made up for your faults.
And the promise I gave you made up for mine. Two imperfect
people got married and it was the promise that made the marriage.
And when our children were growing up, it wasn't a house that
protected them; and it wasn't our love that protected them - it was that
promise."

Thornton Wilder, The Skin of Our Teeth